unWANTED: Walk with Acceptance
by travelingbard
Summary: An amnesiac human wakes up in the land of techno colored equine. With only a number for a name, Zero is taught the ways of their land and searches for himself. But when an unimaginable evil threatens to destroy his new home, he must set aside his search-of-self and answer one new question; What would you do to save a world you don't belong in?
1. Prologue

Prologue

"5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

CONTACT"

The computerized voice over the PA system announced as the numbers were displayed on the big multi-screen set high on the wall so that it could be seen from every part of the room.

"Trans dimensional algorithm alignment source reached," one technician re-laid what his screen displayed. "All green across the board, Sir."

"Good," said Professor Kosciss as he walked to the technician's computer to conform this himself. He smiled at what he read and took a slip of his coffee. "Begin protocol 5 through 20, Mr. Johnson. If everything is still green, move thought 24 up to 54."

"Yes Sir."

Johnson typed in the appropriate keys.

"All clear, Sir."

"Excellent," the satisfied Professor said, taking another sip. He walked over to his desk and typed a few keys on his computer and brought up a screen with a man in a doctor's coat.

"How is our Zero doing today, Adam?"

The doctor looked up from his computer and into the camera. "He's doing good, Psychosis. Skeletal re-structure is coming along nicely. Muscle and nerve system reconnected. His bio readings are normal. Once his memory is wiped and re-calibrated, he'll be ready for integration."

"Perfect," the Professor said, turning from the screen. He suddenly stop mid-sip and looked back at Adam. "What did you call me?" he asked.

"What, Psychosis?"

"Yeah, that. You better be spelling it 'S-Y-E-R-I-S space K-O-S-C-I-S-S'."

"You know me, Tristan. Never was good at spelling." Adam flashed his smile as he messed with his old friend.

The Professor sighed and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Why do I even bother?" he muttered.

Adam's chuckling was interrupted by his phone ringing. He looked at the screen.

"Who is it?" The Professor asked.

Adam looked at the text. "It's a reminder from Sharen to pick up little Susie's cake."

Kosciss slapped his forehead. "Is that today?"

"Yeah," Adam said. "Can you believe my little girl's six alrea..." Adam was interrupted by the sound of his computer beeping. "What a minute. Brain activity just spiked. It's in the yellow."

A slight frown formed itself on Tristan's face. "What?"

Adam typed his keyboard before looking up at the camera.

"He's dreaming again."

 _Unusual_ , thought Trick, "I thought we stop that."

"I thought so too, but it looks like he just keeps bypassing the suppressants."

"Humm. Increase the voltage to 10%.

"Way ahead of ya," Adam typed the keys in,

"Activity down to half green."

"Increase to 30%."

A few seconds pass as Adam did as he was told.

"Cranial activity at full green. Subject is stabilizing. All clear," Adam said.

"Good," said the destructed Professor. _I'll look at the data once all of this is over_ , he thought. He turned from the computer and pushed the button for the intercom. He picked up the mic for the facility's PA's and tapped it to make sure it was on and he cleared his voice.

"All right people, this is it. Just like the last time. Begin temporal sync dimension phase Alpha Delta."

"YES SIR!" could be heard from everywhere. The sound of keys being typed filled the room, along with voices reading out the data on everyone's screens. It was almost melodic to Tristan.

Tristan took a swig of his cup-of-Joe, smiled, and spread his arms out to take it all in. "I love this job," he said to no one in particular.

"Sir, we are ahead of schedule. The output of dimensional warp has increased to 50.5% and rising, Sir."

Tristan turned his head to find the person that said this wonderful information. It came from a women with flaming red hair in seat 12. Trick put down the mic and walked over to the screen.

"Huh," he mumbled, "This is unexpected. Count?" The Professor called out, "Count. With this new development, what is our time frame now with the warp jump?"

A tall slender man looked up from his computer and answered, "10 minutes, Sir."

"Thank you, Count," Tristan turned his attention to the red headed women sitting in front of the screen, "I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?"

The women turned her swivel chair around to face the Professor, "Maya, Sir. Maya O'Neill. I was transferred here just this morning."

"Really? From Logistics, I presume?"

The young lady nodded in agreement.

"Well welcome Ms. O'Neill" Tristan extend his hand."May I call you Scarlet? It's your red hair, you see. It's absolutely marvelous."

Maya blushed and nodded as she shook Tristan's hand.

"Wonderful!" Tristan turned to the rest of the room and raised his voice, "Everyone? Please give a big warm welcome to Scarlet! Make her feel at home!"

The room was filled with, "Welcome, Scarlet!" and "Hi, Scarlet!" and, "I love your hair!"

But one voice shouted out something else entirely off subject.

"What was that, Mr. Hip? Speak up please," said Tristan as he cupped a hand around his ear.

"SIR! HYPER LINK JUST DROPPED TO 70%!" screamed Mr. Hip. "NOW IT'S AT 65%! 50%! 45%! IT KEEPS DROPPING, SIR!"

The room went quiet. Suddenly the alarm sounded and the computerized voice came on the PA system, "WARNING! WARNING! SUBSPACE OPTIMAL LEVELS HAVE DROPPED BELOW SAFETY PROTOCOL IN SECTION 5 THOUGH 54!"

"WHAT?" screamed Tristan as he rushed over to his desk. [i]There's only one person who can do this![/i] he thought as he brought up the feed from Zero's room. "Adam! What's happening to Zero?!"

"I don't know! His brain activity just shot through the roof! He's already passed the safety measures and bypassed the automatic shutdown system! I can't turn him off! He's resetting himself!"

"WHAT?"

The room began to shake.

"no no no NO!" yelled Tristan, slamming a fist against the desk. "Count! What the estimated time of deterioration of the dimensional jump?"

Count did his calculations and put them on the big screen.

"120 seconds" it read.

It started counting down.

Tristan swore very loudly. "Cut all power to Zero's room and the jump system before he can jump!" Trick screamed to everyone in the room. He then pointed to Adam in the box, "And get Adam out of there!"

Panic filled the room as everyone tried to find a way to stop the power. Elsewhere the security team burst through the hall doors that led to Zero's glass box of a room and began wailing on the thing. They used everything they could get there hand on; batons, portable battering rams, chairs, makeshift battering rams using desks on chairs. Nothing could penetrate the diamond like substance.

There was no progress back in the control room as Mr. Hip yelled over all the commotion, "All the shutdown circuits just turned back on!"

"What?! How?!" yelled Tristan.

"I don't know! Even the backup generators just turned on!"

"Well, where's the power going?"

Hip typed a few keys and looked up from his screen in horror. "It's going to..."he was interrupted as the tremor intensified. The lights started to pop in their sockets, sending sparks and glass everywhere.

"TO WHERE, MR. HIP!?" Tristan screamed as he covered his head.

"TRISTAN!"

Tristan turned to his computer to find that Adam was trying to get his attention. Adam pointed to a glowing Zero. Tristan finally understood what was happening.

"HE'S ABOUT TO JUMP!" he yelled. He ran out of the control room and down the hallway to Zero's room. The security team had made no progress with the glass door. Broken pieces of batons, chairs, and desks laid everywhere.

"ADAM! GET OUT OF THERE!" Tristan screamed, desperately pounding his fits against the indestructible material.

"I CAN'T! THE DOOR WON'T OPEN!" Fear had taken control Adam. He started throwing things at the glass but they just bounced back. He resorted to using his hands like his friend, but meet with the same results.

Zero's eyes flung open as he screamed in agony. His eyes and mouth emitted a blinding white light as his gold body glowed still brighter.

"13 SECONDS EVERYONE!" screamed Count over the intercom.

The noise of the tremors had risen to an almost deafening roar.

Exhausted, Tristan fell to his knees, and leaned his head against the glass. "I'm sorry, Adam!" he said through his tears. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's OK, psychosis. I'll be fine," Adam said in a calm voice. He placed his open palm on the glass in front of Tristan.

Tristan copied the action.

"Who knows?" Adam continued, "Maybe this new place will be fun." He stepped back from the glass and saluted his friend for the last time. "It's been an honor, SIR. Please take care of my family."

"I will," Tristan said. He pulled out walkie-talkie and asked count how much time there was left.

3 Seconds.

"EVERYONE HANG ON!" Tristan screamed.

Zero had reached the point of supernova brightness. Tristan peeked through his fingers and could just make out the image of Adam still saluting him.

Then Zero jumped, taking Adam and the box with him.

* * *

"I FOUND HIM!"

Tristan woke up to someone yelling. He opened his eyes to find that Sarge, the head of security, was leaning over him.

"Don't worry, Sir. Help is on the way."

"Uhhh." Tristan was finding it hard to breath. It felt like the 5 o'clock train blindsided him. He tried to sit up and fell back again do to the pain of this mistake.

"Hold on, Commander. You're in no shape to be moving." Sarge turned his head and yelled, "We need a medic over here!"

A man came over and dropped down to his knees. "Here you go, Sir. This'll help with the pain." The medic gave him a shot of whatever was in the syringe.

"Thank you, Wade. And thank you, Sarge," Tristan said weakly, "Now go help some other people, please, Wade. They need more help than I do."

"Yes Sir," Wade got up and headed to the other people that were calling his name.

"Thought we lost you, Commander," Sarge said in his gruff military tone. "You were right there when Zero jumped."

Tristan's whole day came rushing back to him. "You almost did. And I've told you before, Steven; please call me Tristan. I'm no Commander."

"I am sorry for you're lost, Commander," Sarge said, ignoring the order. "Adam was a good man."

"Yes he was." Tristan looked at the sky through the massive hole in the ceiling. "What am I going to tell Sharen?" he asked.

A moment of silence passed.

"SCARLET!" Tristan yelled as loud as he could, "DAMAGE REPORT!"

Scarlet came limping to him with a clip board. "Here you are, Sir."

Trick took the board and read it over. The damage was immense. The pages just kept going.

"Do we know where Zero jumped to?" asked Sarge.

Scarlet nodded, "Its on page 20."

Tristan flipped the page with a single word written right in the middle.

"Where the heck is EQUESTRIA?" Trick asked as he sounded out the unfamiliar name.

"We don't know, Sir. The power is out and all the computers are broken. We were lucky to get a name."

Tristan handed her the clipboard and said, "Get every available personal that's not dead working on another jump gate now."

"Yes Sir!" Scarlet exclaimed, hobbling away.

"Commander, shouldn't we bury our dead and contact their family's first?"

Tristan placed his hand on the sergeant's shoulder as he walked by to observe the damage.

"Right now we need to get Zero back before he does any more damage."

"Sir?"

Tristan kept walking until the tips of his shoes were hanging over the side of the crater that was once Zero's room.

"We need to get him back as soon as possible, Sarge. The residents of this "EQUESTRIA" are about to have their whole world turned upside down. They will fear him and hate him. There is no place for Zero anywhere but here."


	2. Ch 1

Ch.1- Caution: Dreaming may be hazardous to your health

The sun shined bright as Princess Celestia rose it from its sleep to begin the day. The birds woke and sang their morning songs, waking the residents of Ponyville to a bright and happy existence. The rain drops from the night before glistened as the rays of the sun danced upon their surface. The apples on the trees shined their red, green, and yellow colors. The sun was waking the land. The rays of gold broke though the curtains of an orange mare's house, waking her to the best day ever. Life was good, happy, and full of life.

Applejack hated it.

"UUUUHHHHH," she moaned raising her hoof to block the light. She reached over to her night stand and looked at her clock.

6:24 a.m.

"MAAUAHH..."

It was unusual for the farm pony to hate the mornings, or even still be in bed at this time. This was the time of day when she would be working hard on the farm, bucking apples off the trees.

This morning, however, sucked.

"Bucking snakes," she said to herself, kicking the sheets off of her and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, "That stupid dream again." She rested her head in her hoofs and sat there for a moment.

"Why won't you leave?" she asked herself, tapping her head with every word.

A few more moments passed. "OK, girl. Time to get up. Let's go."

Applejack hopped off her bed and walked over to her vanity mirror. The mare staring back at her was a mess; her mane was all over the place and she looked awful, like she hadn't had a good night sleep in a couple of days. Looking closer she found dried tear streaks down her cheeks.

"Gornsarnit." She wiped the streaks away, and sat down on the pillow in front of her mirror. She picked up her brush, and started brushing out the bed knots of her mane. As the brushing became soothing, she thought of last night's dream.

* * *

Her dream started out just like all the others; nice, peaceful, and right in the middle. She was on a date with HIM; Timberjack. He had taken her to the beautiful, (and stupidly expensive), Dusky Rose restaurant in Canterlot City,[i] how he got reservations at such a hurty turty place, I'll never know[/i], Applejack thought. Instead of his usual plaid shirt and boots, that night Timber wore a black suit with a pristine white tie. Rarity insisted Applejack to wear the fru fru blue dress she made for her, but it was so over the top AJ had no idea where her head was supposed to go and what end her legs were meant to be. She politely declined and asked for something simple; a blue dress with a small golden necklace for the evening,

"You look absolutely beautiful, Applejack," Timber said gazing into her eyes.

Applejack blushed and turned her head away, "Ah shucks. I'm nothing special."

"I think you're the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria, Applejack," Timber reached over the table to take her hoof in he's.

"And... there's something I want to ask you."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box.

"It's a question that I've been wanting to ask you for a long time now," he walked around the table and knelt before her.

Applejack's heart started beating so fast she thought it would burst out of her chest.

"Applejack?" Timber said as he lifted the lid on the box.

"Yes, Timberjack?"

"Will you die for me?"

"Wha..."

Black vine-like sludge exploded from the jewelry box and wrapped around her. She screamed and tried to pull free but the vines were too strong, even for her. The restaurant scene melted into nothingness and all that was left was Timberjack and her.

Timber changed as he slowly walked towards her. He got taller, and more slender. His smile grew unnaturally big for his face. His black suit crept around his body until he was as black as their surroundings.

But his eyes were the worst change. His eyes melted off into a pool at his hoofs and were replaced by gleaming red sockets, full of evil.

Applejack struggled against the vines and managed to pull one hoof free. But the vines didn't seem to like that. The tips of the vines grew snake-like-heads and bite deep into her fresh and their grip on her tightened more.

"Now now, my dear sweet Applejack," Timber chortled. His voice sounded like glass scraping across a chalkboard, "I can't have you leave just yet. Not before we have some FUN first."

Timber walked up to her and ran his hoof across her face and down to her chest. He grabbed her dress and ripped it off, flinging it into the void.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Timber's smile grew even wider and he leaned his whole body against hers, "It'll be fun."

* * *

Applejack stopped brushing and looked at the mare staring back at her. Silent tears were rolling down the mares checks from her sad emerald eyes.

 _Why?_ Applejack thought, _Why won't that dream just go away?_

The mare gave no reply.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Applejack? Ya'll up?" asked a deep voice from the other side of her door.

"Yeah!" she sniffed and wiped the freshly made tears away again, "Yeah! I'm up, Big Mac!"

"OK!" Big Mac said, "Breakfast is ready!"

"Be down in a minute!"

The sound of her brothers hoof steps grew small and smaller as he descended the stairs. She turned back to her mirror and finished with her brushing. When that was done, she tied it back into a pony tail and grabbed her hat from its hook on the wall.

She walking to her door then stopped to take one more look at the mare in the mirror.

 _Don't worry_ , the mare said.

Applejack said nothing as she walked out of the room into the real world.

* * *

Walking down the stairs was a lot harder this morning for some reason. Each step hurt.

 _That stupid dream really did me in this time_ , thought Applejack as she descended the troublesome steps.

"NUUH! Stupid legs! Work already!"

She finally reached the bottom without falling this time. Every other morning the stairs would trip and almost kill her.

[i]Guess they decided to skip it today [/i].

A small little yellow filly with a big red bow in her red mane came from the kitchen and asked, "Ya'll OK, Applejack?"

Applejack took a couple deep breaths.

"I'm fine, Apple Bloom. Don't you worry none about your big sis. My legs are just still asleep, that's all."

Apple Bloom looked at her with her big eyes. Her sister never was good at lying.

"Ya sure, Applejack? You don't look too good."

"I said I'm fine!" snapped Applejack.

Apple Bloom stepped back a bit.

"Oh, sugar cube," Applejack went over and hugged her little sister, "I'm sorry. I'm just hungry, that's all."

"It's OK, sis," Apple Bloom said, hugging back her big sister back, "Big Mac made breakfast! Come on! Let's go eat!"

Applejack walked into the dining room to find Granny Smith and Big Mac at the table waiting for her.

"Mornin' y'all," Applejack said.

"Mornin', Applejack," Big Mac said in his usual taciturn voice.

"Well, mornin' to ya too, young'n," Granny Smith said in her shaky voice, "Ya sleep well?"

"Yep! Slept like a log," Applejack lied. _Hopefully that'll pass by Granny_ , she thought.

"Good. Good. Well, come sit and have some breakfast, young'n," Granny Smith waved her hoof to the chair next to her.

Applejack took her seat. THEN she noticed the food. There was a lot of it; pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, hay bacon, hash browns, apple juice, orange juice, milk, oatmeal; it was never ending.

"A lot of food for just a normal day, don't ya think Mac?" Applejack said raising an eyebrow.

Big Mac stopped pouring Granny her drink to look at his sister with a confused look on his face. "Nope," he simply said.

"Yeah," chimed in Apple Bloom with her own confused look, "Arn't ya'll meetin' up with Twilight and the others for the Grand Galloping Gala for tonight?"

"OH DAGNABIT! I completely forgot!" Applejack exclaimed. She was supposed to meet her friends at the Spa at noon before Rarity had them try on the dresses she made for them for the Gala.

She looked at the clock; 6:50 am.

She grabbed a pancake, stuck some eggs, toast, hash browns and some hay bacon and wrapped it all into breakfast burrito monstrosity thing. She grabbed the orange juice pitcher and guzzled it down as she hurried from the table.

"Big Mac, could ya bring the big wagon around the front of the barn by 11? I should be done with the north half of the apple orchard by then," she said with her panrito off to one corner of her mouth.

"Yup."

"Thanks! See y'all later!" She raced out the door to finish her work.

"Bye sweetie!" Granny said smiling and waving to her, "Have fun tonight!"

When Applejack was out of sight, Granny's smile faded into a worried look. "That pony's gettin' worse for ware everyday now. It's not like her to forget a get together with her friends."

"Yup", Mac agreed with her.

There was a moment of silence at the table.

"It was that dream again, wasn't it?" Apple Bloom asked.

No pony answered, but they all knew that it was.

"I knew she was lyin' this mornin'," Apple Bloom said. "She ain't fine! I heard her tossin' and turnin' and yellin' last night!"

Big Mac broke the glass he was holding and his usual calm demeanor suddenly turned very dark.

"I heard her cryin' when I came in last night. If I ever find the colt who did this to my sister..."

Granny and Apple Bloom knew exactly what would happen.

"Wait a minute," Apple Bloom said, "How did you know she was..." Then it hit her and she smiled despite the mood in the room.

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH! You were out late with Ms. Cheerilee again, weren't ya?" she asked.

Big Mac's blushed cheeks conformed the questian.

"Nn...nope," he lied.

"HA! You were!" Apple Bloom yelled, pointing an accusing hoof at her brother. "Where'd ya two go? Was it romantic? Did she like it?" Apple Bloom started firing of her questions so fast it made her big brother's head spin.

Mac grabbed his food, stuffed his face, and ran out the door without answering of his sister's intense questioning.

"That boy needs ta colt up and marry that Ms. Cheerillee," Granny said.

"Eeeyup!"Apple Bloom agreed with her granny in her best impression she could do.

* * *

Finished her panrito, Applejack opened the doors to the barn and got to work. She found the cart with the wooden buckets in it and hooked herself to the cart. She pulled it outside as Winona came bounding to her.

"Hey there, girl" Applejack said, petting the faithful dog on the head. "Come on, girl! Let's go buck some apples!" The two of them trotted off to the north half of Sweet Apple Acres, with Winona bounding the entire way.

As Aj walked she took in the sight of her family farm. She breathed in the cool morning air. It felt nice to be out. Being cooped up in that room of hers was starting to get to her.

She finally made it to her destination and unhooked herself. She grabbed a few wooden buckets and placed them around the tree and got to work.

"OK girl," Applejack said, psyching herself up, "you can do this! You've done this thousands of times! Today's no different!"

She backed up to the tree, reared up on her front legs, tucked her back legs in and with all her strength kicked the tree. The sweet fruits of the tree fell into the buckets around it with a satisfying sound.

"At'a girl", the satisfied farm pony said. She walked over to the other trees and fell into her usual apple bucking routine; buckets, buck, move apple buckets. When the buckets were all full, she loaded them up in the cart and took it back to drop it off back at the barn. She grabbed another cart and did the whole routine again. She kept working like this until all of the buckets and carts were full.

"WHEW!" she said, taking off her hat and wiped the sweat from her brow, "That was a work out! What time is it?"

She looked up and judged the time based on where the sun was. At least 4 hour's had passed by.

"I reckon I could take a little rest before I meet the girls."

Before she took the last cart of the day back to the barn, she grabbed an apple from one of the buckets and walked over to one of her favorite trees on the property. She climbed the tree and rested herself in a nook where the thick tree branch meet with the trunk. The nook was perfect. The branch was wide enough to sit in comfortably and was grooved slightly inward. The trunk was grooved inward too. The whole this was like a chair made naturally. The tee was on top of the hill, so naturally it had the best view Ponyville.

Applejack sat there, eating her apple and watched the scenery of her town. It was almost noon so Ponyville was buzzing with activity. Pony's were walking around buying or selling things. Pegasi were flying around moving the clouds. Off in the distance she could make out a city on the side of the mountain; Canlerlot, the capital of Equestria. That was where the princesses of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Luna, the two sisters, reigned of the ponies of the land.

Applejack crossed her legs and rested a hoof behind her head. She threw the rest of the apple into her mouth and her eyes were drawn to Ponyville's own castle. It looked, for all intents and purpose, like a big purpleish blueish crystal tree castle. The castle for The Kingdom of Friendship belonged to her close and personal friend; Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.

 _To be perfectly honest, that is a strange title_ , Applejack said to herself, even though Applejack did have a throne in that same castle herself.

A yawn escaped her lips. "Boy, I'm plum tired. All that work tukered my out." She made herself more comfortable on the tree and tilted her hat forward to cover most of her face, "Well, might as well rest up a bit, gettin' ready for the big shin dig tonight and all." She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of birds singing in the distance and felt the soft gentle breeze against her skin. It was good to be out.

* * *

"AHHHHHH!" Applejack screamed and jerked awake, almost falling out of her tree. Her hat was not so lucky. It fell to the ground, crumpling up one of its sides. Winona shot straight up and whorled around to look for the potential enemy.

Applejack placed her head in her hoof and sobbed, "I can't even take a nap anymore without dreaming!" she screamed in between her gasping for air.

"APPLEJACK! APPLEJACK! WHERE ARE YA?!" a voice yelled in the distance.

Applejack took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, "I'm... I'm here, Apple Bloom. Up in the tree," she managed to say, wiping the tears away. She had to be strong for her little sister.

Apple Bloom rushed over to see Applejack's tree. "Ya'll OK, Applejack?" she asked looking up at her.

"I'm fine, Apple Bloom," Applejack lied. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"Ya sure, sis?" the concerned sibling asked, picking up Applejack's hat. "Ya almost fell out of the tree."

Applejack jumped down and landed with a thud in front of her sister.

"I'm sure, Apple Bloom!" Applejack said, grabbing her hat from her sister's mouth more forcefully then she meant to, " 'Sides, it's only a few feet of the ground. It wouldn't have hurt if I fell." She knew it was higher than that but she wouldn't admit that she almost died today.

"Anyway Apple Bloom, what are y'all doing here? I thought ya were meetin' up with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle."

"I am, but Big Mac told me to find ya and tell ya your late meetin' y'alls friends."

"What?" Applejack yelled and then put a hoof to her head to make it not spin so much. "UUHHH. I ain't feeling to good. Maybe I shouldn't go toni..."

"NO!" Apple Bloom cut her off, "Ya have ta go! All ya friends are goin'! Me and Sweetie Belle and Scootallo are goin' be there too! Remember that talent contest show the school had a few days ago?"

Applejack thought of the talent show and what the Cutie Mark Crusaders did for it. "Y"all almost died when your stage props fell apart, Apple Bloom," Applejack said sternly.

"No I didn't! We were fine! Anyway, the prize for 'Best Comedy Act' was three golden tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!"

"Oh yeah" Applejack paused. "Wait. I didn't know you three were doing a comedy act."

"We weren't. It was supposed to be a musical." Apple Bloom said somewhat sadly. She snapped back to reality, "But that's not the point! The point is this is my first Gala and I want to have fun! And I won't have fun without my sister! Y'all been there before and had a great time!"

Applejack cringed a bit as she thought about her first Gala. It didn't go quite as planned.

"Pleeeeeease!?" the insistent filly said.

"Alright! Alright, I'll go." Applejack said.

"YEA!" Apple Bloom exclaimed hugging her sister. Then she gasped, "Ya gota' get going then, AJ! Its half past noon!"

"Oh Tartar sauce!" Applejack turned and ran down the hill towards Ponyville and hopped the fence. She turned back to wave to her sister, "I'll see ya at the Gala, sis!"

"Bye! See ya then!" Apple Bloom waved and yelled back.

When Applejack was out of sight, Apple Bloom lowered her hoof and thought of what she just did. She knew Applejack wasn't fine at all. Apple Bloom knew her sister needed to be with her friends and to have a good time. Maybe this'll bring back her sister. Make her better.

"I gotta go too!" she thought, "Sweetie and Scoots 'ill kill me if I'm late!"

She ran off in the direction of the Carousel Boutique to get ready for the night in Canterlot.

* * *

Applejack ran across town to the Day Spa and burst thought the doors, surprising Lotus Blossom and Aloe at the receptionist's desk.

"Oh, Miss Applejack! Welcome!" she said in her accent.

"Sorry about that," the orange mare said, winded from her run.

"You're friends are already here," Aole said, coming around the counter, "Please follow me."

Applejack followed Aole to the back of the place to join her friends. When they reached the doors to the hot tub Aloe opened them and stood aside. "Here you are ma'am. Enjoy," she said, bowing to Applejack.

"Thankin' ya kindly, Aloe," Applejack said. She walked into the room and was immediately tackled by a pink blur thing.

"APPLEJACK! YOU'RE HERE!" the pink thing said as it gave Applejack a hug that would crush an Ursa major.

"Hi Pinkie," Applejack said as the hug got tighter, "It's nice to see you too, but could you let go please? You're crushing me!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Pinkie Pie said as she let go of the slightly blue orange mare. "I'm just so excited that we're all here and we're going to the Grand Galloping Gala and we're going to have the best time ever not like the first time when we went but this time it'll be better than ever!" Pinkie Pie had started talking a million miles an hour and started bouncing around the place, even off the walls and ceiling.

"Hey! Is that Applejack? Hi Applejack!" A blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail was face down in a massage chair. She waved in Applejack's general direction. "Glad you made it! Ah yeah. Little lower. To the left," The blue Pegasus let out a satisfied sound as the masseuse worked on her wings, "Yeah. Right there. That's the spot."

"Howdy Rainbow Dash," Applejack picked up her fallen hat and placed it on the coat rack by the door, "I thought y'all be with the Wonderbolts gettin' ready for tonight."

"And miss a chance to hang out with the gang? No way! Little to your right." Another satisfied sound came from Rainbow Dash.

"Besides," a small and tentative voice said from the hot tube, "It's been ages since we've all been together."

"I quite agree, Fluttershy."

Applejack turned to see what looked like a bee hive head, green faced, cucumber eyes thing in the mud bath.

"I knew, right?"

This comment came from a purple mare in the second mud bath next to the first, "You've been busy with your clothing line, Rarity," she gestured to the pony in the first mud bath.

Applejack made her way to the big hot tub and sat across from Fluttershy.

"I've almost finished up my Spring Line Up," Rarity said," But what about you, Twilight?"

"What do you mean?" the purple mare in the other mud bath said.

"What do you mean, "What do i mean"?!"

Rarity took off her cucumbers and looked Twilight in the eyes, "You have a kingdom to run as the Princess of Friendship!"

Rarity bowed as well as she could in her mud bath, along with every other pony in the room. Even Rainbow Dash turned around and half-bowed, half-almost-fell-off the chair. Pinkie stopped her bouncing and bowed on the ceiling.

Twilight blushed a deep red, "Oh, come on girls. I've asked you before not to do that. Besides, you all have thrones too."

It was true. The castle created by the chest from the Tree of Harmony had six thrones in it. "We do have thrones," Fluttershy said as she looked up from her bow, "but we all have other responsibility. We can't just sit in them and do nothing all day."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said as she came off the ceiling and landed in the hot tube. She hardly made a splash. "Besides; The map hasn't lead us anywhere for a while anyway! I've got parties to throw and the cake twins to watch every now and again!"

"I've got my apples ta buck," Applejack chimed in.

"And I have my animals to take care of," Fluttershy said.

"And Discord," Rainbow Dash snickered.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded her.

"What?"

"Oh, it's OK Twilight. Discords not so bad anymore," Fluttershy blushed so red that Applejack was sure the hot tube's temperature rose up a bit.

"Honestly, Fluttershy. You could have any colt in Ponyville. In Equestria! I don't know what you see in that ... beast," scoffed Rarity.

"He's changed after Tirek betrayed him. He's a lot better now." Fluttershy got a faraway look as she sighed, "He's kind, strong, handsome..." She sighted again.

"Uh, Fluttershy?" Applejack asked.

"Yes?" Fluttershy asked dreamly.

The other ponies laugh a little.

"Is he meetin' ya at the Gala tonight?"

"Yes," Fluttershy answered, still in her own little world.

"Gee, Fluttershy," Rainbow dash said, "If you like him so much, why don't cha marry him?"

This question brought Fluttershy back to reality. "WHAT?!"

"RAINBOW DASH!" scolded Twilight.

"What?" Rainbow said, "What I say?"

"Ma...mama...marriage?" Fluttershy stammered, "I...I...I..." she started to hyperventilate.

"Easy, EASY there girl," Applejack moved over to her yellow friend and rubbed her back to calm her, "Easy. Ain't no pony sayin' ya have to marry Discord." She threw Rainbow Dash a look that could cower a bull.

"Sorry Fluttershy," Rainbow said, "I was just joking."

"It's...it's OK." Fluttershy was calming down.

Applejack patted gently on the back, "Atta girl." She turned to the other girls and changed the subject. "So who ya'll going with?"

"I'm going with Cheese Sandwich!" exclaimed Pinkie. She began her bouncing again, only faster this time.

"How is he, by the way?" asked Twilight.

"He's great!" Pinkie said excitedly. "I just got a letter from him today saying he's meeting me at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Pinkie was started to turn into a blur.

"How is your long distance relationship with him, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked, returning to her position on her massage chair.

Pinkie stopped bouncing around and looked down sadly at her hoofs. "Not so good," she finally said, her usual fluffy out-of-control pink mane deflate.

"What do you mean, darling?" Rarity took of her cucumbers again and looked at the sad party pony. "He hasn't been ... unfaithful to you, has he?"

"Oh no! It's not that! It's just that I don't get to see him as often as I'd like to," Pinkie sniffle a bit. She finally came down from the wall. "But I know he has to follow his Cheese Senses and make the best parties everywhere he goes. It just gets to me sometimes."

The other ponies in the room crowded around the sad pink mare into one big group hug, giving her reassurance. Rarity quickly washed herself off of the mud and joined her friends.

Rainbow Dash's masseuse excused herself to leave the 6 best friends alone.

"Thanks girls. You're the best friends a girl could ask for," Pinkie said. The group broke up and Pinkie turned to Rainbow Dash. "What about you, Dash?"

Rainbow walked a little away from the group and looked sad. "Oh, I'm not going with anypony..." she paused as a huge smile crept on to her face, "ANYPONY BUT MY COLTFRIEND!" she squealed with glee.

The 6 friends were stunned for a moment. Then it hit them and they all squealed in excitement with Rainbow. Pinkie's mane instantly inflated back to its original out of control state.

Everypony crowded around Rainbow and started talking all at once.

"Who is it? What's he like? When did he ask? How long have you to been together? When did this happen?"

"Whoa girls! WHOA!" Rainbow said, "One at a time!"

"Who is he?" Twilight asked.

"Soarin form my squad."

"When did he ask?" Pinkie asked.

"About a week ago."

"How did he ask you?" Rarity asked.

"We were practicing our fly-by for the Gala. After we were done for the day, he took me to watched the sun set on a set of clouds. After a few minutes of just watching the sun set, he told me he liked me." Rainbow Dash was blushing now. "He said he's liked me since the day he saw me. He leaned over and gave me a kiss and asked me to be his marefriend."

Everypony "AWWW"ed at this.

"Rainbow Dash has her first coltfriend!" Pinkie Pie yelled, "THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!" She pulled her infamous party cannon out of nowhere and aimed it at Rainbow Dash.

"Wait Pinkie DON..." Rainbow was cut off from her protest as the cannon went off, showering her with balloons, streamers, and confetti. Pinkie had somehow stuffed a huge "CONGRATULATION!" banner in there and it flew to the wall behind Rainbow Dash and unfurled it's self.

Pinkie started to sing, like she always did when she was overly exited.

"Congratulation Rainbow!

Congratulation Dash!

You found yourself a coltfriend!

We know that it will last!"

"So, Rarity," Applejack said as the pink party pony continued to sing, "How are you and Spike?"

Rarity blushed and looked away. "We're doing fine, darling."

"Have you heard from him yet?" Twilight asked. "It's been 2 weeks since his last letter."

"No dear. I haven't," Rarity said, "And it's been a month since my little Spikey-Wikey's last visit."

"He's not so little anymore," giggled Pinkie. She had finished her song and joined in the conversation.

"He'll always be my little Spikey-Wikey to me," Rarity blushed, "But enough about me. Twilight," she turned to the lavender princess, "I heard that you and Flash Sentry were seen at the Café yesterday."

"WHAT?" Twilight yelled, losing her calm princess self, "I cast a perfect illusion spell so no pony could tell it was us! WHO TOLD YOU THIS?"

"You just did, my dear," Rarity said before she burst into laughter, along with everypony else.

Twilight blushed. "That's not funny, Rarity," Twilight said, pouting at the fact she was tricked.

"Oh lighten up, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, "That was pretty good. Nice on Rarity." She high hoofed Rarity.

"So tell us, Twilight," Fluttershy said after she calmed down with her laughing, " What's it like dating a royal guard?"

"To be honest, it's tough." Twilight said. "My royal duties as "The Princess of Friendship" means I have no peace for myself. I can't walk 5 steps without somepony yelling, "Princess Twilight! The ambassador of so-and-so is here and we need you to go and have him thank you for saving his country from Tirek!" or "Princess Twilight! We need you to wave at some important ponies!" or my favorite, "Princess Twilight! There's a small inconsequential problem only you can fix!"! I had 3 of those this week!" Twilight was basically foaming at the mouth at this point.

"Whoa there, girl," Applejack said.

Twilight's eyes refocused and blushed from embarrassment of losing her cool. "But I digress. Every free time I have I spend with him, whether it's a few minutes or a few hours. Yesterday we went to the Café and just talked about everything; the weather, the Gala, Ponyville, Cantalot, everything. He talked about being in the royal guard and how hard it was to sneak away with me to go on our little dates." She giggled at this.

"But wait, Twi," interjected Applejack, "Isn't playin' hooky for him and you really bad?"

"I told him that but he just laughed it off and said all he does ever since he got transferred here is patrolling the castle grounds. He also told me that the Court-martial would be worth it if he ever got caught."

The girls "AWWW"ed again.

"So wait. Back up a bit," Rainbow said. "You had to use a spell to go to the Café?"

"Yes. I used a spell that changed our appearance."

"Like a changeling?"

"Kind of. See, I found a book by Star Swirl the Bearded and he found that the changelings used a form of Illusion spell that..." Twilight started rambling off all that she learned from her book.

"I'm sure the spell was a work of art, dear..." Rarity interrupted, "...but why did you use it in the first place?"

"So we could walk around without everypony bowing to me. You know how I feel about that. It was also for Flash so he wouldn't get in trouble. You 5 are the only ones who knows about me and Flash."

"That is just adorable!" squealed Rarity, giving her purple friend a hug.

"So, is he meeting you there or is he taking you?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Actually I'M taking him. He's part of my entourage."

"We'll, we can't keep him waiting!" Rarity said as she took of her bee hive towel and shook her lavender mane out. It flowed out and curled perfectly.

"Come on girls! I have new dresses for you! Let's look fabulous for our dates tonight!" she said, rallying the troop.

"Yeah!" cried the ponies.

The 6 best friends grabbed their stuff and started heading for the door. Twilight used her magic to clean up the confetti and balloons as she walked by. Applejack grabbed her hat from the coat rack.

"Wait Rarity," Applejack said. "What about your date?"

"Oh don't worry about me. My heart belongs to Spike and Spike alone." She stopped and turned to face Applejack. "But what about you, dear? Will you be all right? Last time you went to the Gala..."

"I'm fine, Rarity. I ain't lookin' for a coltfriend. Last time... was a mistake."

"Alright, dear. I'm just making sure. I don't want my friend to get hurt again."

"Thank's for lookin' out for me, Rar, but I'll be fine. I'm going with friends tonight."

"Alright Applejack. I won't bother you with it again." Rarity said and hugged her friend. "Come on. The others are leaving us behind. Wait up girls!" Rarity ran off to catch up.

Applejack slowly walked behind her as she was absorbed in her thoughts. _Last time was a mistake_ , she thought. _I went ta the Gala and found_... Applejack fought back the tears that were coming. _No! Not this time! As Celestia as my witness I will have the best night ever!_

"APPLEJACK! YOU COMING?" Rainbow said.

"COMIN'!" Applejack replied and ran after her friends.


	3. Ch 2

CH. 2- Tonight Stinks. Tomorrow ain't lookin' too good either

As the carriage pulled the girls down the road on it's six hour drive to Canterlot, the girls took this time to catch up with each other.

"So Twilight," Rarity said, "Give us all the juicy details on your relationship with Flash."

"Well, as I've said before it's tough. He's got his duties as the royal announcer and he's part of my entourage. I have my princess duties too. We just see each other when we can."

"Well at least you can see him whenever you want," Rarity said, "I only get to see Spike once a month." Rarity looked sad.

Applejack got up from her seat and went over to comfort the white unicorn. "Ah don't worry," she said hugging her friend and sitting down next to her, "Spike'll come visitin' soon. Just hang in there, girl."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Rarity, these dresses are incredible," piped up Twilight, changing the subject.

"Yeah Rarity, their beautiful," Flutershy added. "You're the best seamstress in Equestria."

"Yup!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping up and down.

"Oh girls please. You've been saying that for the last hour," Rarity said, forgetting the subject on Spike and blushing at the complement.

"And we'll keep sayin' it 'till the cows come home," Applejack said, "Thanks Rarity."

"THANK YOU!" Pinkie yelled, hugging her friend.

"You are all very welcome, but could you not do that Pinkie? You're messing up my mane!"

"Oops! Sorry."

Pinkie released Rarity and sat back down next to Fluttershy. Rarity fixed her already perfect mane. "I do wish Rainbow Dash stayed and at least tried on her dress. I worked so hard on it."

"She has to fly with the Wonderbolts tonight," Twilight said. "Besides, her uniform is more aerodynamic then the dress."

"I know, but still..." Rarity's bottom lip protruded out into a pout.

"Ah don't pout, Rarity," Applejack slung her arm around her friend, "Give it to her after she's done flyin'. She'll love it."

"But... I left her dress back at the Boutique."

"You mean this one?" Pinkie asked, pulling a rainbow colored themed dress from her curly pink mane.

Everypony just stared at her in amazement.

"Pinkie Pie, When... how...?" Rarity was too stunned to make a complete sentence.

"I just followed my Pinkie Sense!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"... What?" asked Twilight, still shocked at how Pinkie got a dress to fit in her mane.

"My Pinkie Sense! You know, the twitchy twitches I get that predict the future?"

"Yeah, we know. What about em this time?" asked Applejack.

"Well, my nose twitched a bit and my left hind hoof twitched. That means somepony will need something later. NOW if my left hind hoof twitched THEN my nose, that means somepony needs a cupcake! Kind of like now!"

As if on cue her leg twitched and she winkled her nose. She reached into her mane again and pulled out a cupcake and hoofed it over to Fluttershy.

"Oh... I'm not hun..." Fluttershy began, but her stomach decided to interrupt her. She blushed, ""Well... maybe just a bit." She took the cupcake and nibbled on it.

"Wow Pinkie. How d' ya do that?" Applejack asked

"Pinkie sense, AJ. Madame Pinkie knows all."

"No, not that. How d'ya fit the dress in ya mane?"

"Oh that? I've got all kinds of things up in here." Pinkie started to rummaged through her hair. "I've got cupcakes, streamers, extra balloons, emergency noise makers, confetti balls for my party cannon..."

"Wait. You keep your party cannon in your mane?" asked Twilight incredulity.

"Of course not, silly! It's way too heavy for my mane! I keep it here!" Pinkie turned in her seat and pulled her infamous party cannon.

Rarity leaned over to Applejack and whispered, 'How did she do that _?_ '

'It's Pinkie Pie, Applejack answered, as if that said it all. They shared a giggle.

'Look at Twilight's face,' Rarity said.

Applejack turned and saw Twilight's face as she tried to figure out how Pinkie could fit a party cannon between herself and the wall of the carriage.

Applejack and Rarity tried to stifle their giggles.

"What's so funny?" the perplexed princess asked.

"Nothing... nothing Twi." Applejack tried to say in between her laughter.

"It's ok Twilight," Fluttershy said, trying not to laugh herself when she say Twilight's face, "Pinkie is just Pinkie."

Rarity, Applejack, and Flutershy exploded in a fit of laughter. Twilight joined them after figuring out what the subject was.

"HAHAHAHAH! WHAT ARE WE LAUGHING ABOUT?" Pinkie asked as she too joined in with her friends.

"Nothing... Darling... nothing at... all," a winded Rarity said between gasps of air.

"WOO! THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATIONS! FRIENDS LAUGHING TOGETHER AGAIN!" Pinkie exclaimed, raising a hoof to the ceiling before bringing it down on the firing mechanism her party cannon.

"WAIT NO PINKIE NOT IN..." Twilight was too late. The party cannon shot streamers, confetti, and balloons everywhere. The carriage jumped about a foot off the ground.

The action of the cannon threw the 5 friends into a panic of shrieking laughter.

"Crazy ponies," one of the guards pulling the carriage said.

"Yeah," The other guard agreed, "We're not even at the Gala yet and their already going nuts."

"Probably because they haven't seen each other in a long time," another guard said.

"Yeah. Celestia know's how long I haven't seen my friends," the first guard said. "Can't wait 'till my shift is over."

"Then let's get these girls and the princess to the Gala!" an orange Pegasus said from the front of the group.

"YES SIR!" the guards said and quickened their pace.

* * *

Applejack and the gang were just about done cleaning the confetti off of themselves when there was a knock at the carriage door.

"Princess Twilight; My Lady's" a voice said as the door opened, "We have arrived."

Twilight was the first to step out. "Watch your step, your Highness," the orange Pegasus said as he reached a hoof out to help the princess step down. "You look beautiful tonight, your Highness," he added.

"Thank you, Flash," Twilight said, blushing at his complement. She turned to face her friends as they exited the carriage. "All right girls! Let's have the best night ever!" Everypony agreed to this statement with "whoops" and "yeahs".

The girls took in the sight as they waled down the road to the castle. Ponies from all over were flowing through the gates of Canterlot, the city on the side of the mountain. As they walked across the draw bridge leading up to the huge double doors that lead to the road to the castle, Applejack turned to see the pool that the waterfalls from above made. "It sure is beautiful tonight," she commented.

"Oh I know! Isn't it just?" Rarity said. "Especially with this view! You can see Ponyville from up here!"

Applejack turned and saw the view Rarity was talking about. Far down below was Ponyville. It looked so small. Applejack squinted her and could just make out her barn on Sweet Apple Acres. What a view.

"Hey," Pinkie Pie said as they continued down the road, "Look!"

Applejack turned back to see what Pinkie Pie was talking about when Rarity gasped and ran towards the figure in the road.

"SPIKE!" she screamed, colliding into the dragon. She knock him to the ground and rolled with him, kissing him all along the way.

"Hey...Rar...ity...nice...to...see...," Spike tried to finish his sentence, but the kissing kept cutting him off. "I need to breathe Rarity!" he finally managed to say, gently pushing her off of him.

"Spike!" the rest of the group caught up with him.

"Hey, girls," Spike said, hugging each one of his closest friend, "It's good to be back."

"Good to have you back, Spike," Twilight said, "Where have you been?"

"You know I can't answer that," Spike said.

"Spikey-Wikey?" Rarity said with a sweet voice.

"Yes Rarity?"

They both stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"I've missed you so..."

SMACK!

Spikes sentence was interrupted by the sound of Rarity's very well manicured hoof colliding with the side of Spikes face.

"TWO MONTHS!" Rarity yelled at him. "YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOR TWO MONTHS AND YOU NEVER WROTE WHY IN YOUR LETTERS!" She slapped him again. "YOUR LETTERS BECAME SHORTER AND SHORTER!" Tears started to stream down her face now, washing her mascara away. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER SAYING GOOD BYE THE LAST TIME YOU LEFT!" She was in hysterics now and was attracting quite the crowd. "I...I thou...thought...you...were...were...dead...I thought...you...you were...se...seeing...another... mare..."

Rarity's broken sentence was interrupted as Spike pulled her close and kissed her.

"Rarity," he finally said as he pulled his lips from hers, "I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long." He kissed her again. "But you listen to me, Rarity," He brushed a loose strand of her mane out of her eye, "Not a moment has past in the last 3 years that I didn't think of you. I would never ever look at another mare the way I look at you. There is no mare in all of Equestria more beautiful then you." He kissed her again.

The crowed "AWWWW"ed at this and Rarity seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"OH, look at me," Rarity said, sniffing and wiping her face with a hoof, "I look awful now."

"You could never look awful," Spike said, kissing her again.

The two walked off down the road and into the main hall of the castle, leaving the group behind.

"Wow," Twilight said. "I had no idea Rarity was keeping all THAT in."

"Me neither," Fluttershy said.

"Your highness," Flash Sentry bowed said, "Princess Celestia is..."

"...WAITING FOR ME IN THE FORYA! OH MY GOSH, I FORGOT!" Twilight ran down the walkway with her entourage close on her heels. She turned her head and said back to her friends, "I'LL SEE YOU GIRLS IN THERE!"

The friends waved goodbye until Twilight ran into the castle and out of sight.

"Hey," Applejack said, "Why didn't we go with her?"

Fluttershy looked like she was about to ask the same question when something caught her eye. She turned bright red and started walking towards a very strange creature in the road.

"... Cause I want to see this," Pinkie Pie said, pulling a cupcake from her mane and taking a bite. "Want one?" she pulled out another one and offered it to Applejack.

"Eh, no thanks, Pinkie."

Pinkie shrugged and popped it into her mouth and turned back to the scene at hoof.

"Hello, my dear Fluttershy," The tall, strange looking creature in the road said.

"Hello, Discord," Fluttershy said with a small voice. "You look nice tonight."

"Well thank you, Fluttershy," Discord said. "But you, my dear," he leaned down and gentle raised her chin, "are more beautiful than a chaotic Monday morning."

'What?' Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie. 'What kind of a complement was that?'

Fluttershy, however, blushed an even deeper red. "Really?" she asked, looking up at the Draconequus.

Discord leaned in and whispered, "I would never lie to you, my dear." He kissed her to prove his point.

'Apparently a good one,' Pinkie whispered back.

Discord picked up his love with his mismatched arms and carried her through the doors into the castle.

"They are so CUTE TOGETHER!" Pinkie yelled as she and Applejack followed the odd couple into the castle. Over head a sonic rainboom exploded in the sky, signaling the official start of the Gala

"Yeah, they are," agreed Applejack, "But I thought Fluttershy was still mad at Discord. You know, about the whole 'betraying everypony for power' thing with Tirek."

"Guess she forgave him," Pinkie said.

The two had reached the stairs were Princess Celestia and Twilight were greeting the guest. Twilight had just finished bowing to one guest when she noticed her friends. She waved to them enthusiastically. Celestia noticed the two also and bowed her head slightly.

Applejack waved to Twilight and started to head towards her when she noticed Pinkie Pie just standing and looking around.

"You OK, sugar cube?" she asked her pink friend.

"Cheese said he would be here, but I don't see him." Pinkie said with a look of worry on her face. Rarity would have flipped her lid is she saw her masterpiece of a mane style, (especially since Pinkie's mane obeys to no pony), deflating like a balloon's air being let out.

"Ah, don't worry, sugar cube," Applejack walked back over and put a reassuring arm around her worried friend. "Why I bet he's coming down the road right now and..."

As if on cue, a figure in the ugliest Hawhinny tee shirt anypony had ever seen burst through the doors and screamed, "PINKIE PIE!"

"CHEESE!" Pinkie Pie yelled excitedly, her mane poofing back to its original state. She ran towards him in a pink blur, expertly dodging around the ponies that were between her and her colt. Suddenly, Pinkie leaped into the air and rocketed straight towards Cheese.

Cheese was ready for her, though, and at the last second he expertly caught her in mid air and spun with her before he finished her off with a dip.

"Hey there, Pinkie," he said, "Sorry I'm late."

"Nope!" Pinkie twisted in his grip and turned him around and dipped him, "Your right on time!" They both looked into each other's eyes and kissed. The two love birds then skipped away, hoof-in-hoof to the grand hall.

Applejack sighed sadly.

She was now alone.

"WOW! That was a site to see!"

Applejack was startled by the voice and whirled around so fast her hat came off.

"Pardon me, madame. I did not mean to startle you."

The voice belong to a white unicorn with a blue mane, tail, eyes, and a mustache. He's horn glowed yellow as he magically picked up the fallen hat.

"Oh, It's all right, Mr...?"

"OH! How rude of me," The white stallion extended his hoof, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Fancy Pants."

"Well howdy do, Mr. Fancy Pants," Applejack said as she shook his hoof, "The names Applejack."

Fancy Pants looked surprised and readjusted his monocle. "Applejack? As in the 'Element of Harmony' Applejack? THE Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres and THE Applejack that stopped the tyrannical rampage of Tirek?"

Applejack tilted her hat to hide her blushed face. "Ah shucks. I didn't do it alone. I'm nothing without my friends."

"Au contraire, my dear," Fancy Pants gently took Applejacks hoof in his. "You FRIENDS are nothing without you! YOU are the binds that keep them together! YOU are the voice of reason in times of danger!" He stopped with his speech and looked around with a frown on his face. "But I see no escort with you. Are you alone tonight?"

Applejack took her hoof away from his and nodded sadly.

"WHAT?" Fancy Pants shouted.

A few heads turned in surprise including, Princess Celestia and Twilight's.

Applejack blushed out of embarrassment.

"My apologizes," Fancy said, "But I am just surprised that a beautiful mare, such as yourself, has no pony for the single most important night of the year."

Applejack was completely embarrassed now.

Fancy Pants realized his mistake of works and extended his elbow to her.

"My dear Applejack, Would you do me the honor of letting me be your date for tonight?"

Applejack looked at the gesture and thought better of it. Then she thought of her promise to herself and her little sister. She nodded and took his elbow. "You may," she added.

"Splendid, my dear!" Fancy said enthusiastically. "Let's make this the best night ever!"

* * *

The night was going very well for Applejack. Fancy Pants was a real gentalcolt, getting her food and drinks and what not. He even taught her how to waltz, and she in turn taught him how to square dance. Since Fancy Pants know just about know who all the important ponies where, he introduced Applejack to a colt that ran the city's food surplus.

"Young lady," Market Surplus said, "If you give me a share of your apples, your family will never have to worry about bits ever again."

Oh, Thank you, Mr. Surplus! With all that money, we could fix up the old barn again!"

"Young lady, with the money you and your family are about to receive, you could fix dozens of barns."

All in all, it was turning out to be a pretty good night.

After a while, Applejack and Fancy Pants walked over to the table where everypony was. Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were even there, along with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.

"... And so I said to him, "Really? I thought that was your rickshaw."

Everypony exploded into laugher.

"Howdy, y'all! Great night, huh?" She said excitedly.

"Hey... Hey Apple... jack..." Rainbow Dash said between gasps of air, "You just... missed... the funniest... joke every!"

"OH MY... GOSH! MY... SIDES!" Soarin tried to say.

"Tell it again, Discord," Scootaloo chimed in.

Discord cleared his throat. "So last Tuesday afternoon, I was walking down the road when..." he began, but was stopped by a hoof on his arm. "What is it, my love?" he said to Fluttershy.

"Eveyponys here now," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"OH. Yes." he looked exited all of a sudden.

Fluttershy looked to all her friends around the table and cleared her voice. "As you all know, Discord and I..."

"...Have been seeing each other for a while now...," Discord continued.

"...And we thought..."

"...That we..."

"Let's say it together, my dear."

"OK, my love."

Fluttershy's front hoofs were intertwined with Discord's lions paw and talon.

They excitedly said together, "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!"

A deafening silence took over the entire group.

But it didn't last long. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle broke the silence, along with everypony's eardrums in the vicinity, with their shrieks of glee.

"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH MY GOSH!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she flew across the table to hug her best friend.

"Congratulations, you two!" Spike said over the yelling. Everypony at the table were asking questions all at once.

"When did he ask?"

"How did he ask?"

"When's the wedding?"

"Was the setting romantic?"

Fluttershy put her hoofs up and yelled, "Whoa Whoa WHOA, everypony! One at a time!"

"I'm proud of you, Discord," Celestia said over the commotion, "You certainly have changed since your release. Congratulations."

"Yes," added Luna, "It seems the beast has been tamed by beauty."

"LUNA!" scolded Celestia

"No no. Luna is quite right, Tia," Discord said coming to Luna's defense. "I was a bitter and miserable creature who loved nothing more than to torment others." He turned to his fiancé and gently raised her head to look at him, "Then I met you, my love. You changed me." He bent down and kissed her.

"Oh you," Fluttershy said and kissed him back.

A moment past when Shining Armor cleared his voice and asked, "So whens the wedding?"

"Tomorrow," Discord answered without hesitating.

There was a moment of silence as they all took this news in.

"Discord! Don't do that to them!" Fluttershy playfully smacked her fiancé's arm.

"OW! Sorry my dear. I couldn't help myself."

"We were thinking of a summer wedding," Fluttershy said.

"Oh thank goodness!" Rarity sighed with relief. "For a second there I thought I was going to have to pull an all-nighter for your wedding dress, Fluttershy."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Fluttershy said.

"What do you mean?" Rarity said. "My best friend is getting married in a few months and your telling me not to worry about it!?" She was practically yelling at this point.

"NO. That's not what I meant," Fluttershy coward at Rarity's intensity. "I just meant I don't want you to over exert yourself on the dress."

"Oh trust me, my dear," Rarity said, waving a dismissive hoof, "I do my best work under stress."

"Yeah, after about three all-nighters," chimed in Spike. He laughed at the glare his mare gave him and wrapped an arm around her. "Don't worry, babe. I'll help you out. And I'll throw you the best bachelor party ever!" he said to Discord.

"What, like mine was?" Shining asked bitterly.

The occupants at the table burst into laughter.

Fancy Pants turned to Applejack. "My, they certainly are a lively group tonight."

"Yeah. Sorry about that," apologized Applejack.

"My dear," smiled the unicorn, "What every do you have to apologize for?"

[I] That smile[/i], Applejack thought, [i]I've seen that kind of smile before[/i].

It was at that moment that Rarity finally noticed Fancy Pants and squealed in delight.

"Why hello, Fancy Pants. What brings you here to... our..." She trailed off and gasped. She backed into Spike, and his drink spilled everywhere.

"Whoa, Rarity!" he said, "What's gotten into yo..."

"YOUR NOT FANCY PANTS!" shouted the frightened unicorn. "FANCY PANTS' CUTIE MARK IS THREE CROWNS, DOT A PAIR OF SPARCLING PANTS! WHO ARE YOU?!"

Fancy Pants swore and screamed, "NOW!"

All around the hall was the sound of ponies screaming. Most of the guests burst into green flame and turned into changelings.

"What's going on?" Applejack asked.

"WHY, WHATEVER DO YOU MEAN, DEAR APPLEJACK?"

The voice that said this sounded like two ponies were asking this at the same time. Applejack turned back to where Fancy Pants was to find that he had been replaced by a tall mare, with holes in her legs and see-through-insect-like wings. Her mane and tail turned a teal color and her eyes were slits. Her skin was black and she bore no cutie mark. A small, black crown was atop her head.

Chrysalis, The Changeling Queen, cackled wickedly as her gnarled and twisted horn glowed a sickly green color as she created an aura around the four princesses and Discord.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!" cackled the Queen again. "Eat, my children! Eat all the love they have to offer!"

The changelings happily obliged their queen's orders as the screams in the hall intensified.

Applejack tried to take a swing at Chrysalis but two changelings came out of nowhere and pinned her down.

"GET OFF MY SISTER!" Apple Bloom shouted, "CUTIE MARK CURSADUERS... ATTACK!" Apple Bloom's war cry filled the hall as the three fillies leapt into action. Scootaloo took two beer bottles and smashed the two ends off and wield them like knifes, while Sweetie Belle levitated the chairs with her magic. Apple Bloom crouched down into a boxer's stance and the three friends, along with the rest of the group, readied themselves for a fight.

The fight, however, was short lived. The changelings were much too strong, even for Shining's force field.

"A valiant effort," scoffed Chrysalis, "But I'm afraid my changelings are too strong for any of you to handle."

"How is this possible?" Celestia asked, struggling against the magical bubble that surrounded her.

"Love, dear Princess Tia. Love conquers all!" Chrysalis spread her arms out to take the scene at hoof in. "And there is so much of it here tonight, especially at this table! My changelings and I are more powerful then we were 5 years ago!"

"Oh yeah? Try this on for size!"

The queen turned just in time to come face-to-face with Pinkie Pie's party cannon. Chrysalis let out a scream as the cannon went off and blasted her through the air into the wall.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" shrieked the queen. Her horn glowed as she levitated pinkie off the ground and slammed her into the ceiling, then the floor, and finally flung her into the opposite wall. The wall cracked a little and Pinkie fell to the floor, not moving.

"NOOOOO! PINKIE PIE!"

Cheese Sandwich broke from the clutches of the changelings pinning him down and rushed over to her and cradled her.

"UHHH..." she moaned. "That hurt a lot."

"Pinkie Pie," Cheese said, tears in his eyes, "are you OK?"

"Not really," she whispered. "I think I'm gonna... gonna take... a... nap..." she drifted into unconsciousness.

Cheese just cradled her and cried.

"Stupid pink little fool!" Chrysalis mumbled. She raised her layered voice and yelled, "LISTEN UP, EVERYPONY! I'm more powerful then all of you put together! And just to prove that I'm here to stay," she walked over to where Applejack and the gang was being held down, "I'm going to make an example out of one of you."

She walked over to where Shining Armor was and took his chin in her hole ridden hoof.

"I could use you, but that night 5 years ago still plays in my mind, my love," Chrysalis said.

"What night?" Cadence asked. "What's she talking about, Shining?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Chrysalis turned to Cadence. "The night before the wedding, Shining and I... Well, I'd tell you. But there are fillies present."

"SHUT UP!" Shining yelled. "Cadence, honey, I promise you. Nothing happened!"

Chrysalis chuckled. "Are you sure, my love? There's a reason why the Bride and Groom don't see each other before the wedding. And you were under my control?" She flashed her wicked smile and leaned down to kiss him, but he turned his face away.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS!" He spat in her face.

Chrysalis slapped him across the face.

"SHINING!" Cadence yelled.

"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!" Twilight screamed.

Chrysalis walked up to the bubble holding Twilight imprisoned. "Ah YES, Twilight Sparkle. Ive heard about your new title; "The Princess of Friendship"." She burst out laughing. "AHAHAHA! That is the stupidest title for royalty I have ever heard!"

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER," a voice said from above. Flash Sentry came soaring down towards Chrysalis with his spear. She, however, expertly sidestepped the jab and knocked Flash to the ground.

She scoffed and said, "Good try, but no"!

"FLASH!" Twilight screamed. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she added, but the queen was already moving on.

"You impersonated me perfectly 5 years ago, Chrysalis," Cadence said. "How did you get Fancy Pants cutie mark wrong? Are you losing your touch?"

Chrysalis answered her with a backhoof to the face.

"CADENCE!"

"Next time I stalk a worthy candidate, I'll make sure he takes off his stupid coat!"

"So... what," Cadence said, spitting out some blood, "You just guessed based off his name?"

Another backhoof.

"I could kill you, you know," Chrysalis said, grabbing Cadence's throat, "But that would be too easy." She let go and left Cadence coughing and gasping for air.

"YOU BIT..." Shining's sentence was cut short as the backhoof queen smacked him as she walked by.

"Which one, which one?" she asked to nopony in particular. She stopped in front of Apple Bloom. "OH... You are perfect, my little rebel leader."

Apple Bloom screamed and struggled against the changelings holding her down.

"Yes. You'll do nicely," chuckled the queen. She lifted the poor filly into the air for all to see.

"NO! STOP!" cried Applejack, "NOT MY SISTER!"

"STOP CHRYSALIS! PLEASE!" begged Celestia. "YOU WIN! THE KINGDOM IS YOURS! TAKE ME INSTEAD!"

"Ah, Tia. Always one for self sacrifice." The queen turned her head to give Celestia a wicked sneer. "NO. I want you all to see what happens to the young ones that defies their new ruler!"

Apple Bloom was sobbing now as Chrysalis rose her up for all to see.

Applejack dug deep within herself. She pushed with all her might and through the changelings off of her and galloped to Chrysalis. She reared up and bucked the queen in the face just before the beam left her horn. The beam just missed Apple Bloom and shot through the ceiling. With that kick, the queen lost control of Apple Bloom and she fell into the arms of her sister, sobbing.

The queen roared in frustration. She knock Apple Bloom out of Applejack's hoofs and grabbed Applejack by her held her high in the air before throwing her down into the ground, cracking the floor beneath her.

"FINE! I'LL MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF YOU INSTEAD!"

Chrysalis's Horn glowed twice as bright now as she readied her spell.

Applejack looked at her friends for the last time and gave a small smile.

"I love y'all," she managed to cough out.

The green light was unbearably bright now.

Chrysalis lowered her horn.

"DIE!"

Light exploded everywhere. But it wasn't green.

It was golden. And it was come from the outside of the castle.

Chrysalis stopped and looked up.

"What trickery is this?" she hissed.

At that moment, the magical barriers that imprisoned the four princesses and Discord disappeared.

"AHHHHH!" Discord let out as he stretched his limbs and popped his back. "My word it was cramped in there!"

Chrysalis whirled her head around. "How... How did..."

Her disbelief sentence was cut off as a boomerang collided with her face.

As the queen recovered from the assault, the four Alicorns combined their powers to blast Chrysalis off of Applejack, out the window, and off the side of the mountain.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" shrieked the queen as she fell.

Discord snapped his fingers and the all changelings in the grand hall suddenly disappeared. They reappeared in the middle of the room, dazed and without their wings. The Alicorn princesses and Discord blasted them out the window and into the night sky along with their queen.

"APPLEJACK!"

Apple Bloom tackled her sister on the floor and curled up in a ball and wept. "I WAS SO...SO..." She tried to finish her sentence but she was weeping to hard.

"I know, sugar cube, I know," Cooed Applejack, running a roof through her sister's mane. "It's OK. Shh shsh."

Discord ran to Fluttershy and cradled her gently. "Fluttershy, my love. Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and buried it against his chest. "I'm alright now."

"Why did the force fields falter?" asked Twilight.

"Because Chrysalis hesitated," Celestia seethed. She cleared her voice as she walked over to the windows. "But now we have a more pressing matter to attend to."

Everypony walked over to the windows and saw a giant gold circle in the sky high above them.

"Look at that!" Rainbow Dash said. "It's huge!"

"OW!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

Cheese was carrying her to the rest of the group.

"PINKIE PIE!" cried the gang, "ARE YOU..."

"I'm fine! OW!" she clutched her side. "I just wanted to OW, let you all know OW, that my Pinkie Senses are telling me OW, something unbelievable is to happen!"

"Well, DUH, Pinkie!" scolded Rainbow, "It's not like a giant golden circle appears in the sky every da..."

"LOOK!" somepony said.

"Somethings coming out of it!" another yelled.

Rainbow Dash turned back to the window to see the something fall out of the circle and land on the outskirts of Ponyville.

"What was that?" asked Applejack.

"I don't know, my little ponies," Celestia said, a worried look in her eyes. "But I fear this new event is about to change our world."


	4. ch 3

Chapter 3 – Welcome to Equestria, the land of talking... donkeys?

Dark...

Darkness...

Floating... in darkness...

Alone...

… So... alone...

Where...

Where am I...

WHO... am I...?

"Who are you?" a voice echoed in the darkness, shaking him to his core.

Who...

Who... am I?

"What is your name?" the voice shook him again.

… Who am I...

A low rumbling noise began to shake the darkness.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" The voice shouted the question as the rumbling grew louder.

Cracks started to appear in the darkness.

My...

My name...

The cracks grow bigger and light started to shined through them as the rumbling became a deafening roar.

… My name...

… Is...

…... Zero.

* * *

"AHHHHHH!"

Zero woke in a panic as he flailed his arms and legs around in the dark.

"He's awake! Get the doctor!"

The voice sounded like it came from the floor on his left

"Who... who are you?" Zero asked the darkness. "Why can't I see anything?" He waved his arm around and smacked something that made his hand hurt a lot.

"Whoa whoa WHOA there, fella. Don't go hurtin' yourself again."

This voice was just like the first one, only this one came from his right.

"OW!"

"Dear, please calm down. You'll hurt yourself even more."

"I... I can't see. Why can't I see?"

"It's OK. It's OK. There's nothing to worry about. You're safe here."

Zero felt something touch his arm and he drew back in fear.

"Oh. I'm sorry if I hurt you." The voice sounded hurt.

"It's alright, my dear. You didn't hurt him. He's just scared"

"You can't see because we wrapped your head in bandages. You had some... things attached to and under your skin."

"Don't forget the glass, or what every that stuff was."

"I... What? What are you talking about? Who are you?"

He reached up and started to fumble at the wraps on his face.

"Wait no! Not so fast!"

"AHHHH!"

The light that bombarded his eyes blinded him.

"Take it easy there, pal! It's a guy, right?"

This question confused Zero so much he stopped.

"Yes. He is a male Homo Sapient."

Zero's eyes were starting to stop hurting. He could now make out shapes and colors.

"What are you talking about?" he asked as the world slowly came into focus. "Of course I'm a human. What else would I..."

His question was lost in his throat as he gasped. He back away as far as he could in his small bed and smacked his head against the wall. He was too stunned to have noticed the pain.

He was surrounded by... Equidae.

Unnatural multi colored Equidae.

TALKING unnatural multi colored Equidae.

And a dragon. A well dressed dragon.

And a well dressed... whatever the tall, snake like thing with the lion and bird arms was.

"Are ya OK, sugar cube?"

He looked over to find a horse with a cowboy hat staring at him.

"No. Not really. I'm surrounded by a bunch of bubble gum colored talking donkeys. Where am I?"

The room fell into silence until the tall snake, lion thing burst out laughing.

The yellow donkey next to him smacked him with a hoof.

"Ah! Hahaha! I'm sorry, my dear!" he said, rubbing his lion's arm. (Zero assumed it was a HE. It sounded like it was a he.) "It was just too funny!"

"What? What I say?" Zero was very confused.

"We're not donkeys! We're ponies!" a lavender "pony" with a horn emphatically said to his right.

"OW!"

Zero jumped at the unexpected yell and turned to see the green and purple dragon rubbing his foot.

"OW. Oh come on, Rarity, what was that for? I was laughing at what he said."

"Well, laugh it up, dragon boy," the white pony with the horn said, "You can sleep outside tonight."

"WHAT? WHY?"

"Because I said so," the white horned pony "Rarity" said, humphing and sticking her nose up into the air.

"Back to what I was saying," the lavender pony said, "We're ponies, not donkeys! Our ears are smaller, for one! Our manes are longer too! Ponies are part of the EQUIDAE family and... "

"OK! I'm sorry!" Zero threw his hand up, "I'm sorry I said donkey!"

"Good," the lavender pony seemed pleased to have gotten the point across.

"So... where am I?"

"You are in the hospital in Ponyville," the lavender pony said.

"What? Where's Pony... AH!" Zero put a hand to his head as it threatened to burst open from the pain. It finally passed and he noticed his arms where bandaged up entirety, even his fingers. He lifted up the bed sheets to find his body was too. He also found out he was wearing a rainbow themed...thing around his midsection.

"Why am I wearing a rainbow colored...thing around my waist?"

"It's not a "THING"! It's a dress!" Rarity shouted. "One I worked very hard on, too! Now it's ruined! All of my dresses I worked on are ruined!" She was seething and foaming at the mouth.

"Here, Rarity," the yellow pony said in a small tentative voice. She handed, ([i]hoofed?/i] thought Zero) over a glass of water.

"Oh. Thank you, Fluttershy." Her horn glowed a pinkish color and the glass was engulfed in the same color. I floated through the air to the pony's mouth.

"How did you do that?" Zero asked in wonderment.

"Magic," she said matter- of -factly. She still looked pretty steamed but she calmed down a bit at least. She walked to the far corner of the room and sat down.

"You're wearing Rainbow Dashes dress because you're...towel fell off." Fluttershy asked, blushing from embarrassment.

"I thought it was his skin," the blue rainbow haired pony chimed in.

"That's weird, Rainbow Dash," the pink one said.

 _Good grief, was she made from pink?_ Zero thought.

"Oh come on, Pinkie Pie! He came out of a glass box from the sky and was glowing! That's weird!"

"What? I fell out of the sky? I was glowing"

Twilight walked over to him and looked at him in the eyes. "Do you remember anything?"

"No. I don't."

"Do you know your name?"

Zero paused for a moment and finally said, "Zero. My name is Zero."

"Well Zero, it's nice to meet you," she extended a hoof to him. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

He paused for again before taking her hoof. There was a pause when finally zero asked, "So…what happened to my towel, Miss Twilight Sparkle?"

Everyone in the room was suddenly interested in looking at anything else but Zero.

"Well, we were carrying you from the wreckage when... it fell off." She suddenly blushed a bright red and averted her eyes.

Zero was blushing out of embarrassment "I think you should start from the beginning, Miss Twilight Sparkle. How I came to this Ponyville in a glass box thing?"

"Please, just Twilight is fine. And of course."

She cleared her thought and sat down in the seat next to his bed.

"It happened right after the Changleings attached us."

"Changelings?"

"Yes. The Changelings are insect-like ponies that can shape shift into..."

"Come on , Twi," the orange pony with the hat interrupted her lecture, "He just woke up. I think the last thing he needs is a lesson on Changelings right now."

"Your right, Applejack," Twilight blushed a little.

"And anyway, Twi," the orange cowgirl pony continued, "The light show happened during the attack."

"Light show?"

"Yeah," the rainbow hair colored pony said, "The golden light show circle thing in the sky that your box thing fell out of."

"What?"

"You really don't remember any of it?" the pink one asked.

"What about that other human that was with you?" Rainbow Dash continued, "Do you remember him?"

"Other human?"

"The dead guy that..."

"RAINBOW DASH!" yelled Twilight.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the floor.

Nobody said anything for a minute until Zero decided to break the silence.

"OK. Would somebody please start from the beginning and tell me how I got here and where I am and who the other guy is and..."

Zero stopped and drew back a little as he finally noticed three pairs of eyes observing him intently from the end of his bed.

"Um...Hi," he said, giving the three small things little wave.

The heads popped back out of sight and reappeared right next to the left side of the bed. This time Zero really did jump.

The little yellowish one with a big red bow in its hair raised a hoof and poked him in the arm and drew its hoof back just as quickly.

"Apple Bloom!" the cowgirl pony said, "Don't be rude!"

The little ponies just kept staring at him.

Zero leaned in a little and stared right back at them.

He turned his attention back to the rest of the group. "Would someone please just tell me what happened to me and how I got here?"

"I will, sugar cube," Applejack said. She walked over to the other seat next to Zero's bed and made herself comfortable. Zero noticed her rear hoofs where bandaged up. "I can't help ya on where ya came from, but I can tell ya how we found ya."

She cleared her voice and began to talk.

* * *

2 Days Ago

"We need to get to Ponyville," Twilight said.

"All right, my dears," Discord said, "And Spike, Shining and fly colt, and you with the awesome hawhine t-shirt; come gather around Discord."

Everypony started to walk towards Discord while Celestia and Luna hung back.

"This is going to be fun! OW!" Pinkie said as she clutched her side.

"Easy, Pinkie," Cheese said supporting her, "Your hurt pretty badly."

"Not to worry," Discord announced and snapped his finger. Pinkie pie let go of Cheese and tested her wounds.

"Thanks, Discord!" she exclaimed as she bounced around the group.

"Come on, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said, "Let's go!"

"I am joining you," Luna said as she, walking up to the group.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked, "Why are you coming?"

"I would like to see what has happened in Ponyville as well." She glanced at her sister for a moment. "My sister can handle things here."

"All right," Discord said, "Is everypony and dragon here? Good." He hunkered over the group and stretched his arms around them. "Hang on!"

Applejack closed her eyes and felt Apple Bloom's grip tighten. She heard a POOF noise and felt the air stiffen as the group was teleported.

When she opened them again, she was in front of Town Hall in Ponyville. The town looked all right, but there was something not quite right either.

"Do you...feel that?"

"Yeah. I feel it in the air."

"My hair's standing on end."

"Residual magic," Twilight announced.

"Powerful residual magic," Luna corrected. "And there is an abundance of it."

There was a pause as the group let this sink in.

"OK," Twilight said, "Does anypony have eyes on the thing that fell around here?"

Everypony scanned the surrounding area until Cadence said, "There!" and pointed towards a ploom of smoke coming from the west.

"It's coming from the farm!" Apple Bloom yelled.

"Come on, y'all!" Applejack yelled. She took of through the town. The buildings flashed by and she jumped the creek in a single bound and landed with a thud but that didn't stop her.

"APPLEJACK!" somepony yelled from way back," SLOW DOWN!"

But Applejack wasn't listening. She was in her own little world, worried about her grandmother at home. The trees blurred by, the road felt life clouds. She was practically flying down the road to home.

She jumped the fence along the north of Sweet Apple Acres and made a bee-line straight to her house. She finally noticed the house was still standing and the barn was not on fire. She burst through the back door and called for Granny. There was no answer.

"GRANNY!" she called more franticly.

"What with all the yellin' about, youngin'?"

The voice came from the top of the stairs.

"GRANNY!" applejack flew up the stairs and embraced her grandmother. "Your alright!"

"Well of course I'm alright," Granny Smith said confused, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Applejack started to tell Granny what had happened at Canterlot when Rarity's voice called from downstairs.

"Applejack! Come on, dear! The fire is this way!"

"Granny, stay here!" Applejack said as she let go of Granny and headed down the stairs.

"Whats goin' on, Applejack?" Granny Smith called after her.

"I don't know, Granny, but stay here!" Applejack called back. Right then Apple Bloom, Sweetie belle, and Scootaloo ran past the door.

"Oh no you don't!" She ran out and grabbed them. She dragged them inside the house and called out for Discord. He appeared with a pop and said, "You called?"

"Stay here with Granny and the fillies!" Applejack ordered, "Keep 'em safe!"

"What? NO!" yelled Apple Bloom, "I wanna come!"

"Yeah!" protested the other two youngsters, "Why can't we come?"

Applejack left the three filly's without a response as she ran out into the yard and towards the west orchard, where the smoke was coming from.

Applejack notice there was an assemble chain of the town's folk from her house to the source of the smoke. She ran to the front of the group to find her apple trees were engulfed in flames. She grabbed a bucket of water and throw it at the fire, but id didn't seem to help that much.

The rest of the gang finally showed up and started helping too.

"STAND BACK!"

Applejack was surprised to hear Luna using her royal canterlot voice. She hasn't used it in a long time, but it's effects on the ponies worked. The hurried back as Luna, and Twilight stepped forward. Their horns glowed as they readied their spells. The beams of magic released by the two Alicorns hit the blazing trees and froze them in ice. Cadence would then blast the frozen trees to instantly melt the ice. Soon the ground was covered in water.

The three Alicorns stood together and raised their horns to the nearest burnt tree.

"Ready?" asked Luna.

The other two nodded in unison.

Their horns glowed and the tree began to glow the same white color. The charred bark of the tree began to disappear. Leafs sprouted from the branches and apples grow once again. The princesses turned their attention to the rest of the trees and preformed the spell again and again until all the burnt trees were healed.

The rest of the group turned their attention to the foreign object protruding from the ground. It was at least half the size of a small house, maybe a large room. In the middle of the box looking thing was a golden light. Applejack walked towards the light and ran into something. She rubbed her nose and reached out a hoof and touched something. She tapped it and the sound of glass echoed her taps.

She looked inside the glass box and saw a…something in a doctors get up. It wasn't moving.

The light moved, catching Applejacks attention again. She took a step back, and the light came closer to where she was.

"Applejack!" somepony said, "Get away from that thing!"

The light looked liked it got smaller. It was now even with Applejack's eyes. She raised a hoof to the glass again. The light mimicked the action. A few moments passed until the light fell over. She watched as the light grew more and more dim until it was gone. What was in its place was a creature.

A tall creature with two legs and two arms.

"There's somethin' in here!" she called back to the group. They rushed forward and gasped.

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"My goodness!"

"Sweet Celestia."

"Wow..."

Applejack recognized the last voice and looked down to see her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo pressing there faces against the glass and staring at the thing.

"Apple Bloom!" she scolded, "What are you doin' here?"

"I wanted ta see!" the young filly said.

"Ya suppose to be at the house with Granny and Discord!"

"Sorry, Applejack! Its my fault!"

Applejack turned to see Discord and Granny Smith walking up to them.

"I turn my attention away for one second," he continued, "And POOF! They were gone."

"I told him those youngster's most likely went to the west orchard," Granny said. "Kids these days, always runnin' towards somethin' dangerous."

THUD.

Applejack jumped back, along with everypony else. The thing had gotten up and was pounding one thing attached to the arm against the glass. The other attached thing was clutching its neck.

"Whats it doin'?" asked Apple Bloom.

Twilight, Luna, and Cadance walked up and joined the group. The thing's pounding grow weaker.

Realizing what the thing was doing, Twilight yelled, "IT CAN'T BREATH!"

The other ponies stared at the thing as is collapsed over, gasping.

Applejack reared up to the glass and kicked. Her legs bounced right off of it.

"What the...?"

Everypony started to pound on the glass, but met with the same result.

"MOVE, EVERYPONY!" yelled Twilight.

Everypony moved just in time as the Alicorns blasted the glass with magic. But somehow, the glass still stood firm.

"I do not understand!" Luna said, "Why is it not breaking?"

Twilight rushed over and touched the glass. "I don't know! I've never seen this kind of glass before!"

The thing in the box fell over and convolest violently.

"Do something, Twilight!" Fluttershy pleaded.

Twilight thought frantically for a solution.

The thing stopped moving.

Twilight looked at the thing, the glass, and then the trees.

"Applejack! I need your help!"

Applejack rushed over and said, "What do ya need me to do, Twi?"

Twilight move away from the box a bit and blasted it with magic. "KICK IT!" she yelled.

Applejack reared up to the glass box again and kick for all she was worth. The glass shattered, splintering into small pieces that cut her hoofs.

The thing gasped and coughed for the sweetness of the air. Applejack rushed over to the thing and cradled its head.

"Easy, easy there," she said. She raised its head up slightly to clear its windpipe. "Take it in slowly." She wiped away the glass on its face, cutting it in the process.

The thing acted like it couldn't get enough air.

"...tha...thank...you..." the thing whispered.

"What?" Applejack asked.

The thing's body went limp and its eyes closed.

Applejack heard glass cracking behind her and turned to see the gang looking at her and the creature.

"Its a human," Twilight finally said.

* * *

"I said, "Thank you"?" Zero asked.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "Why you were thankin' me for, I can't really say."

"What happened after that?"

"Well," Twilight said, interrupting what Applejack was going to say, "We removed the...things in your skin and lifted you out of your glass box. That's when you're... towel fell of off."

"That's when I pulled out the dress and tied it on you!" announced the pink pony with the crazy hair.

"And misused a perfectly good dress in the process!" Rarity yelled from her corner.

"Luna flew off to Canterlot," continued Twilight, "And we brought you here, to the hospital."

"Wait a minute. You two healed the trees," Zero said, looking at Twilight and the other winged and horned pony, "Why didn't you just heal me then? Why bring me here?"

The two ponies exchanged a look that worried Zero a lot.

"What? What is it? Am I going to die?"

"No! No, it's not that," Cadence reassured him. "It's just that... well..." she turned to Twilight for help.

"We tried to heal you right after we removed those wires and tubes from you," Twilight began, "but your cuts wouldn't heal."

"What?"

"Every time we tried to heal you, your cuts and holes would reopen."

"Why? Why wouldn't they heal?"

"I was hoping you could tell us," Twilight looked worried. "Is there magic from your world?"

Zero thought for a moment. His head was still processing what he had just learned. "I don't know," he finally said. "I barely remember my own name. I keep trying, but that's all I can remember."

Twilight looked away, deep in thought.

Something finally clicked for Zero. He turned to the cowgirl pony and asked, "Applejack, right? You said there was someone else in the box with me."

Applejack looked down sadly. "Yea, I did, but..."

"Great!" Zero said excitedly. "Where is he? Or did you say she? This person can tell me who I am and where we came from and..."

Applejack placed a hoof on Zero's shoulder. "I'm sorry, sugar cube. He's dead."

It took a moment for this to sink in. Zero's excitement disappeared and he hung his head.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Did ya know him?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

The whole room filled with the sound of silence.

"I have a question," a voice broke the silence.

Everyone turned in the duration of the voice; light blue pony standing next to, or rather underneath Rainbow Dash, was staring at Zero. "If your a human, then what are you doing here in Equestria?"

The door to the room flung opened and a tall, white pony came in. Everybody gasped and bowed their heads. Zero couldn't help but stare at her. Her hair was flowing and waving in non existing wind.

"That is a question I would like answer myself," she said, looking straight at him.

"Princess Celestia, please!" a voice said behind her. "The decontamination process hasn't been completed yet! We don't know if..."

Princess Celestia's horn glowed a blinding yellow flash and filled the room with its light. Zero felt a slight burning sensation throughout his body.

"There," the princess of the sun announced, "They are clean." She walked right up to Zero and glared hard at him. "Now I will ask you again, human. What are you doing in my Equestria?"


	5. Ch 4

Ch.4- The man with no name

Zero tried to form a sentence, but the words in his brain would not come out of his speaking hole in his face. He couldn't look away from her intense burning eyes, either. Who was this completely and utterly terrifying tall horse?

"Sister, please!"

In his peripheral vision, Zero saw a dark bluish shape walking in after the scary white horse.

"Sister, please! Calm down!" the dark blue pony pleaded again. She sounded winded, like she had been chasing her sister.

"I will ask you again, human," the burning eye's said, ignoring her sister and walking from the foot of Zero's bed to the side of it and leaned in closer, seething her question into a whisper, "What are you doing here?"

"I...I don't..." Zero tried to say, but her eyes seemed to burn into his mind and soul.

"Princess Celestia?"

The tall white pony turned her blazing gaze towards Twilight Sparkle. Twilight looked as terrified as Zero felt.

"What is it, my most faithful student?" The white pony's gaze softened a little but there was still an edge to her voice; a sharp edge.

Zero took this opportunity to plan an escape. He wasn't going to let the tall pony with the wavy mane stare at him with those blazing eyes again. He looked at the doorway to find it was still opened and that no one was in the way.

He slowly moved the covers and inconspicuously moved his legs to the left side of the bed.

"Why are you here, Princess Celestia?" twilight asked.

Zero carefully moved his feet towards the floor.

"I am here to look at the situation,"

"What situation? What do you mean?"

Celestia moved away from the bed and Zero shot towards the door.

A shriek filled the room as Zero's foot stepped on something small and squishy. He lost his footing and tumbled to the ground and collided with a chair, sending bright spots dancing all around him. The heart monitor and IV bag were dragged along with him across the room and over the bed. The bag burst, showering the bed with its contents and the monitor bounced off the bed and crashed to the ground.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity ran from her corner and comforted the little filly.

Celestia's head spun towards Zero. She walked up to the human on the floor, cradling his head.

"What do you think you are doing, human?" she yelled at him angrily, "Trying to escape? You hurt one of my subjects!" She pointed her violently colored horn right into his face. Zero saw the anger in her eyes and it terrified him to the core.

"THAT IS IT, TIA!" The dark bluish pony head-butted her sister in her side and the magical energy blast from the horn missed Zero by millimeters and completely incinerated the wall behind him.

"You are out of control, sister!" Luna shoved her sister towards the door, but Celestia side stepped and circled around her. Luna's horn glowed blue as she magically grabbed her sister and flung her outside the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LUNA! LET GO OF ME!"

"WE NEED TO TALK, SISTER!" she yelled as she trotted after her and slammed the door behind her.

The occupants of the room were in shocked silence at what just happened. The only sound came from the human, slightly groaning from the floor.

"Wow. I've never seen Celestia THAT angry before," Cadence commented, finally breaking the silence.

"Neither have I," Twilight said.

Applejack walked over to the whimpering human and comforted him. "Ya'll OK, sugar cube?"

Zero was rocking side to side, holding the back of his head. "Not…really. Is… is the…little one…OK?"

"My leg hurts a little. Other than that, I'm fine. Rarity, get off me!"

Rarity was hugging her so tightly she was turning a slight shade of purple.

"Are you sure your fine, Sweetie Belle? I could get the doctor to look you over an..."

"I said I'm fine! You're the one killing me! Don't squeeze so hard!"

"I'm sorry I... stepped on… you… little one." Zero said in between gasps of air and rocking back and forth. "Gosh... stupid chair..."

"I'm so sorry about Princess Celestia, Zero." Twilight said, "I don't know what's gotten into..."

The door crept open and Luna stuck her head in. "Twilight Sparkle? Would you come out here for a moment, please?"

"Um... sure." Twilight walked passed everyone and out into the hallway. The door closed with a soft click, leaving the room in an awkward silence. It didn't last long, though. A caramel colored pony with a doctor's coat on and a stethoscope around its neck came bursting through the door.

"What is going on in here?" he exclaimed, surveying the scene.

"It's OK, Mr. Doctor Pony," Zero said as he sat up and ripped the IV and heart monitor tube from his arm, "I just fell and bumped my head."

"Let me see."

The doctor pony came over and grabbed Zero's head, turning it this-way-and-that as he unwrapped the bandages on it.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any external cranial damage, but we'll take an X-ray just to be sure. Nurse?"

A white pony with a nurse's cap came in as the doctor pony kept talking.

"Now the cuts and holes on your face is another..." The doctor was interrupted as Zero tried to back up as far as he could. He soon calmed down as he realized the white pony wasn't nearly as tall or scary as Celestia was.

"Are you OK, sir?" the nurse asked.

"Not really, no," Zero said. "I wake up to find talking candy colored donk...ponies around me and I have no idea where I am. THEN a tall scary white horse comes in here and starts yelling at me and almost kills me!"

"I was wondering about that," the nurse pony said, turning to the doctor pony, "Why is Princess Celestia and Luna here, Doctor Horse?"

"I have no idea, but Princess Celestia's presence here is upsetting the hospital."

"What do you mean, Doc?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well," he began, thinking of the right words to use, "She's royalty upset for some reason and her mood is affecting the other patients. Not to mention the damage done to my hospital…" he trailed off as he noticed the heart monitor shattered on the floor. "And my equipment! What happened here!?"

"Oh. That." Zero rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Doc. I was making a run for the door and I stepped on the little one over there and pulled the monitor to the ground."

"Those things are expensive!" Doctor Horse said as the nurse tended to Sweetie Belle. "Now we have to place an order for another one!"

"It's OK, Doc," Discord said, "I've got this." He snapped his finger and the monitor reassembled itself instantly and righted itself on its stand. The spilled liquid on the sheets floated into the newly repaired IV bag like it was never spilled in the first place.

"There we are, good as new," Discord said satisfied with his work.

"Oh. Well, thank you, Mr. Discord," the doctor said, "That was very kind of you."

"Not a problem."

"Your hoof is sprained a little," the nurse said to Sweetie Belle, "But it'll heal just fine."

"Thank you, Nurse," Rarity said, squeezing her sister tightly again, "I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to her!"

"Rarity!" muffled the small filly.

"Wait a minute, Doc" Zero announced, "You said I had cuts and holes on my face?"

The doctor nodded and added, "But they are minor lacerations. I don't know why our healing spells don't work…"

"Could someone hand me a mirror, please?"

Discord snapped his fingers again and a small mirror popped into existence and floated down to Zero. He took it and saw a strange person looking back at him. The person in the mirror had olive skin and was riddled with cuts and holes. His blue eyes staring back at him were filled with… something.

Like they wanted something… to see…

Something…

Something…

Zero clutched his head as the pain took him over. It felt nothing like what the chair gave him a few minutes ago. After what felt like forever the pain finally subsisted and Zero found the whole group looking at him.

"Are you… oh…" The doctor pony began to ask, but he stopped and just stared at him.

"What?" Zero asked. "What are you staring at?"

"Your eyes," Fluttershy said in awe.

Zero quickly turned back to the mirror to see what the soft spoken one was talking about. "What? What about them?"

"They were blue a second ago," Rainbow Dash commented, "Like, REALLY blue."

"Really?" Zero asked in disbelief, "How?"

The room went silent as the others tried to form an answer for the confused human.

Finally the nurse pony broke the silence. "Well, maybe it has something to do with the Iris fluids."

"The color of the eyes can't change because of the fluid," Doctor Horse corrected her. "When you're angry or sad, you're pupils dilate and change slightly."

"I know that," the nurse huffed at her boss, "But I'm pretty sure blue eyes can't just change from blue to electric azure blue."

"Maybe it's different with him. It could be for a number of reaso…"

The door opened again and Twilight stepped into the room with Luna close behind. "Sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but we have a question for you. Is the hum … I mean, Zero, ready to…" She stopped as she finally read the room. "What? What happened?"

"Zero's eye's changed, Twilight," Applejack said.

"What? How?"

"We were just discussing that when you walked in, Princess." Doctor Horse said with a bow. He looked around and asked, "Where is Princess Celestia?"

"Princess Celestia had to go back to Canterlot for… something," Twilight said. "Back to what I was asking; Is Zero well enough to move around?"

"Oh. Yes," Doctor Horse took a look at his notes. "As far as we know he's recovered enough to travel, but he just received a head injury from that chair he hit. We wanted to run an X-ray on him to see…"

"I'm sorry, Doctor Horse," Twilight interrupted, "If Zero can travel now, then we have to go."  
"Go?" Zero asked. "Go where?"  
Twilight walked over to Zero and helped him to his feet.

"We're taking you home."

* * *

The walk to the front doors was strange to Zero. Every pony he passed by had a look of shock and awe as they looked at him. He realized that not only was he 'Not from around these parts' (as the little pony with the big red bow said), he was also still covered in bandages from head to toe. He started to take them off, but soon realized the only thing keeping him decent WERE the bandages. That and a very brightly makeshift rainbow colored skirt thing that kept his man hood under wraps.

"I'm sorry I ruined your dress, Rainbow Dashie," he said, turning to her as she lazily flew above the entourage.

"Its Dash," she corrected him, "Just Dash. And anyways, it's no a big deal."

"To YOU it isn't, Rainbow Dash," a voice said from the back of the group, "But I spend two hours making that dress! I used my most expensive, and hard to get I might add, rainbow dyed fabric and gold thread! AND I used just the right amount of sequence to make it shine! AND I…"

"I think we get it, babe."

"YOU can be quiet, dragon breath!"

"What in Equestria did I do to you?"

There was the sound of a little huff before she continued. "I'm still mad at you. AND you're still sleeping outside tonight."

Zero tuned out the background noise as he walked to the doors. He suddenly stopped at the foot of the door and stared out the little window.

"What is it, Zero?" The tall blue pony with the wavy hair trotted over to him and looked at him. "Is there something wrong?"

Zero hesitated before answering her. "I… don't know, Princess… Luna, was it?"

She gave him a small nod and waited for him to continue.

"I just…feel like… I don't know how to describe it… like I shouldn't step out these doors. Like stepping out would be a bad thing."

She walked closer to him and looked deeply into his eyes. "I know that you must be scared and unsure of everything right now, but to find the answers you seek, whether they be good or bad, you must take the first step."

Zero broke eye contact with her dark blue eyes and stared back at the doors. He took a deep breath and placed a hand on them. "999 miles left to go," he muttered with a half smile.

The light from the outside world blinded him and he staggered back a little, rubbing his eyes to hurry them up with their adjusting thing. What he saw when they finally were adjusted absolutely stunned him.

There was so much color everywhere! The ground was hard yet loose on his feet. He took off the bandages on them and felt the dry dirt road. He ran over to the green stuff next to the road and was shocked to feel it wasn't hard and rough, but soft. He felt something brush up against his back but turned to find his companions where nowhere near him. He opened his arms to feel the wind for the first time in his life. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He looked up and saw a sight that completely robbed him of his words.

It was big; as far as the eyes can see in every direction.

It was blue.

It was…

"BEAUTIFUL."

He fell backwards with a thud with his eyes still fixated on the beauty above.

"ZERO!"

Zero heard the sound of the others coming towards him.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Twilight asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Zero addressed her without looking away from the sky. "I'm sorry to make you all worried about me, but I'm fine."

"What was all that prancin' and dancin' around a second ago?"

Zero looked up to find the pony to that voice and said, "Come here for a moment, Applejack."

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually came over and twisted her head upwards.

"Tell me, Applejack, What do you see?"

She sounded confused at first but said, "Well, I reckon we're both seein' the sky."

"Yes, but I'm seeing something else. I'm seeing a beauty I have never seen before."

"Never? Really?"

"What do you mean, Zero?" Twilight asked. "Are you getting your memories back?"

His serenity smile disappeared into a frown as Zero thought.

"I… no. I don't. It's more of a… feeling then anything else. "

A couple of minutes passed until he got up and said, "Ok. Let's take me home." He started to walk off in a direction before realizing he had no idea where he was going.

"It's this way Zero," Twilight said, heading down the dirt road.

They all walked through the town and everyone who saw Zero looked at him the same way the ponies did in the hospital. Fillies would gasp and hid behind their parents and the parents would hug their little ones and run off.

"Why are they so scared of me?" Zero leaned down and asked Applejack.

"Well, you're a… human, wasn't it?" Rainbow Dash looked to Twilight for confirmation. "You kinda stick out around here."

"Plus, ya fall out of the sky and almost set my whole orchard on fire." Applejack commented.

Zero rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about that. I'll make it up to you somehow, Applejackie."

"It's Applejack, not-"

"The only thing you're doing is taking what you can from your box and going back home," Twilight said, interrupted.

"All right. What did you guys do to my stuff, by the way?" Zero asked.

"We didn't. We just left everything there."

"Everything?" Zero asked in disbelief. "You left everything out so anyone could steal it?"

"There are guards surrounding Sweet Apple Acers to make sure that doesn't happen," Twilight said, "but it's just a precaution. No pony would go near there after what happened."

Zero thought for a moment before asking, "What about the other human that was with me? Adam. Where is his body?"

Twilight averted her eyes as she answered the human's question. "I'm sorry, Zero. We just left him there."

Zero was stunned. "What? Why would you just leave the body out in the open like that?"

"We covered the body. We didn't want to risk an infection of some kind. That's why we took you to the hospital to decontaminate you and use."

By this point the group had reached the edge of town and started to make their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Zero ran off down the road, not entirely sure where he was going. He heard the others call for him but he didn't care. If he could just see this man's face, maybe he could remember who he is.

He rounded the bend in the road and saw a few ponies dressed in gold colored armor standing at the opening to the farm.

"Hey! What are-"

Zero hurdled over the fence and ran straight through the trees as he searched for his box and the man. He wasn't sure where he was going, so he just ran. Ran for all he was worth.

A few minutes later, he came upon a large group of guards standing around a very large tent. They all turned towards him with brandished spears and swords, ready for a fight.

"HALT! WHO ARE YOU?"

"STAND DOWN, CAPTAIN!"

A voice from behind Zero stopped the guards in their tracks. They all snapped their hoofs together and saluted to the advancing figure.

"Princess Twilight! Princess Luna!" The one in the front of the group approached Twilight And Luna and bowed a bit. "We didn't know you where coming so soon."

"At ease, Captain," Twilight said, "He's with me." She turned to the rest of the guards, dismissed them all, except for the Captain. "Flash," she said in a hushed tone, "Stand guard, please, until we're all done."

"As you wish, my Princess," he said, before sneaking a kiss onto her cheek and walking to the side of the entrance. Twilight's cheek flashed a bright red before heading into the tent, followed by Zero and the gang.

The box that had brought Zero to this strange land loomed over him. He felt a crushing presence emulating from the glass and the contents within. Walking up to the thing took all of his will power.

He was afraid of it, and he didn't know why.

"Zero?"

He turned to see Twilight walking up to him and put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder.

"Zero? Are you ok?"

"I… I can't explain it. Twilight," he began, "I know I should know this… this thing… but I don't. I can't remember."

"Maybe this will help you," Twilight said. She walked over to the tarp just inside of the box that Zero totally missed. She lifted it and Zero came face to face with the other human.

Zero bent down to take a closer look at him. The man's white coat was stained with blood and his glassy brown eyes stared blankly at the ceiling of the tent. A small smiled played on the edges of his mouth. Zero said the name on the tag he wore.

"ADAM."

Zero stared at the name tag, willing it to give Zero the answers he needed.

"SOOOOOOO," The one called Pinkie Pie hoped over and looked over Zero's shoulder at the man. "Do ya remember anything? ADAM? What a weird name."

"PINKIE PIE!"

"OOPS! I'm so sorry, Zero" Her hair and tail somehow deflated like all the air was let out. The rest of the group wondered around, looking at this and that.

"No no, it's ok, Pinkie Pie," Zero said, trying to make her feel better. "I don't remember anything new, including him."

He looked back to the name tag and frowned.

"Wait. I remember something."

Zero felt 14 pairs of eyes turn towards him. He ran a hand over the man's eyes, closing them.

"A name is just a name without deeds and memories behind it."

The silence that followed this statement was defining. Zero felt something wet run down his cheek, but he made no effort to stop it. Finally someone said, "Hey, what's this thing?" A screeching metallic sound filled the air and Zero felt like his head was caving in.

He felt the cold of a metal table as the saw cut into his flesh, ripping him to pieces. The sound of his screams echoed of the walls of his cage. His days were filled with pain and suffering. His pleads fell on deaf ears as the shadows above him closed in. He wishes they would stop. He wishes they would stop saying his name.

Zero…

Zero…

Zero…

"ZERO!"

Zero's eyes flew open as the sound as the sound of his name jarred him back to reality. He looked around at all the techno colored ponies and cried. He cried and gasped for air and cried some more. He grabbed the nearest pony and hugged them for all he was worth.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" he sobbed over and over again.

"What are ya thankin' me for?" Applejack asked, but Zero was already running out the tent.

He threw his arms out as far as they would go and yelled into the sky as loud as he could,

"MY NAME IS ZERO! AND I AM FREE!"


	6. Ch 5

Ch. 5 – No place like it

The group looked on in shocked silence as the human went from crying to laughter, then back again. He went on like this until he finally collapsed to his knees and screamed at the sky for the final time. Twilight walked over and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," Zero said, wiping his face and returned the hug. "I'm sorry you had to see all that."

"No, it's ok," Twilight said, "It's ok to cry. Do you feel better now?"

Zero let go of Twilight and stood up, taking a deep breath and stretching his arms out as far as they would go.

"Yeah. Yeah, I feel much better now that I am free of that box," he said, gesturing towards the tent.

The rest of the group came up to him at this point and someone asked him what he meant by free. Zero took another deep breath so he wouldn't start shaking again.

"Well, I can't remember everything. It's all just bits and pieces. The little that I do remember is THAT box!" He stretched his arms wide again and looked to the sky. "For the first time ever, I can see the world outside of THAT box."

"But, sugar cube," Applejack said, resting a hoof on his leg, "This aint YOUR world."

Zero looked down at her with sad eyes. "I wish it was. It's beautiful here."

"It is indeed, human," Luna said, "But my sister has ordered your return to your own world with as much of your belonging as you can carry with you."

"But why?" Zero asked. "Cant I stay a little longer?"

"Princess Celestia says you don't belong here, Zero," Twilight chimed in. "She said you have to leave immediately."

"How does she expect me to carry THAT with me?" Zero said, gesturing to his glass box. "And how AM I getting home, anyway?"

"I've been wondering that myself," Rarity piped up. The rest of the group nodded at this comment.

"We will worry about your box later," Twilight said, her horn suddenly glowing. "As for how you're getting home; let me worry about that."

She closed her eyes and the glow of her horn intensified for a second. There was a small flash and a brown book with a sun on its cover appeared in midair, hovering in front of her. There were two more flashes as a bottle of ink and a quill appeared besides it. She sat down as she opened the book and began to write.

"I'm going to sent Sunset a message telling her your coming. Go and get your things, Zero."

Zero wondered how writing in a book would let the sunset know he was coming, but he didn't voice it. He was, after all, in a world of techno colored talking ponies with magic and could fly.

He walked into his shattered home and looked around for the first time again. Torn or burnt books and pages were scattered all over the place, along with broken pieces of various medical equipment. He saw in one corner a treadmill and book case broken beyond repair. Pieces and keys of a piano littered the floor of the opposite corner. Other workout equipment and musical instruments lay bent and broken everywhere. The only thing that didn't seem to be broken was a wide metal table in the middle room. He walked to it and ran his fingers on its smooth surface. As he did this, he tilted his head sideways to look above the table and say the broken lights.

Lights…

Lights…

 _Lights_ …

Zero turned his head to find he was on the table, looking up at the lights.

" _Hold him_ " a voice said from just beyond the light.

Zero tried to turn towards the voice but the lights from above blinded him.

Dark figures entered the light and fell over him, holding him down.

"Wait! Please don't! NO!" he cried to the shadows

He struggled against the shadows, but they were too strong.

He woke with a start and found he was in his room on the table. He looked around to find no one there in the room but himself.

"A dream," he said, catching his breath, "Just another dream."

He took a couple more deep breaths to calm his nerves and laid back down and closed his eyes.

… _zero_ …

His eyes snapped open and he whirled his head around.

… _Zero_ …

There it was again.

Getting closer.

" _ZERO_ …

"They're coming for me!"

Zero closed his eyes tightly and curled up into a ball.

"GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!"

" _ZERO_!"

"GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!"

"ZERO!"

Zero opened his eyes to find the group over him, looking at him with concern and shock.

"Are you ok, Zero?"

"Wha…? What happened?"

"Well, one minute you were just standing next to that table looking thing-" Fluttershy said.

"-And the next, you were on the ground rolling all over the place screaming!" Rainbow Dash finished.

"I…I did?" Zero asked. He tried to get up, but immediately regretted the action. He fell back down and cradled his head. His whole body ached.

"Whoa there!" Applejack said. "Easy there. Don't get up too fast. Just rest for a second."

Zero nodded and waited for the world to stop spinning.

"What happened, Zero?" Spike asked.

"I… I don't know. I was suddenly bound on the table, and I heard voices."

"Voices?" Rarity asked. "Who's? What did they say?"

"I don't know. All it said was to 'hold him down'. Then shadows tried to do just that. Then I woke up."

"Is that why you were screaming?"

Zero nodded, than shook his head.

"No. No I was yelling because the voices were coming after me while I was sleeping."

"What voices? What's going on in here?"

Twilight came in and Applejack relayed everything that happened.

"I believe that Zero had another vision of his fragmented past," Luna said.

"What triggered it?" Twilight said in a businesslike manner.

Luna tilted her head towards the table and Twilight walked up to it. She touched it and examined it. She walked around it and her horn glowed purple as she examined it with her magic.

Finally she walked over to Zero and said, "It looks like an ordinary examiner's table. What happened, Zero?"

"I don't know. I just touched it and… and…" Zero clutched his head again and felt a tear roll down his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Zero," she said, "I didn't mean to-"

"No no. It's ok, Twilight," Zero said, wiping his face with his arm. "I know you're just trying to help."

There was an awkward silence between them when Twilight suddenly said, "Oh yeah! Sunset Shimmer said she'll be waiting for you by the school."

"Sunset Shimmer? What school?" Zero had no idea what she was talking about.

"Canterlot High. You don't remember?"

Zero had no idea what she was talking about and shook his head.

"Dang. I was hoping the name would jog your memory or something."She sighed and held out her hoof to Zero. "Are you ready to go?"

Zero took the helping gustier and stood up. "I think so. Let me take one more look around before we go."

He walked around a bit more without having a painful flashback memory thing. He grabbed what little that wasn't burnt or broken and placed them inside a backpack he found. He moved a piece of the piano to find some clothing underneath.

"Huh…" Zero said.

A little orange filly Pegasus with a purplish mane came over and stared at the clothing in his hands.

"What is it? What'cha find?" she asked.

Zero brushed off the glass to find it was a pair of underwear and jeans.

His face suddenly felt hot for some reason and he said simply, "It's just my clothes."

He raised his voice a little so the others could hear. "Could I get a little bit of privacy here, please?"

The others nodded and began to walk out of the tent when Discord snapped his talons and a folding screen appeared in-between Zero and the others. Zero scooted the little filly out towards the entrance before untying the makeshift-rainbow-skirt-thing and the bandages around his midriff and legs.

 _Man, Twilight and the doctor were right. I do have a lot of cuts and holes all on me._

The cuts were recent, but the holes were all ready scabbed over. He counted the scabs and found that each leg had about 20 small and big holes in his skin, mostly around his joints. They didn't hurt as he pulled the underwear on, but the roughness of the jeans slightly irritated him. He began to remove the wraps on his arms, but found them to be more prominent then his legs were and wrapped them back up.

When he was done, he stuffed the rainbow skirt into his backpack and swung his shoulders. He looked around one last time before finally gave up on the hope of finding a pair of shoes and began to walk toward the opening of the tent when something caught his eye. He walked over and knelt by the body of Adam. He saw a small lump in his front pocket that he hadn't noticed before. He reached in to it and his fingers gripped the edges of something. He pulled out a small rectangular black thing with a shiny surface on one side.

He pressed one of the buttons on the side and the screen lit up with a beautiful picture of a golden field. The man called Adam was standing in the middle of the picture with a little girl in a white sun dress in his arms. Standing next to him was a beautiful woman in the same kind of sun dress as the little girl was wearing. She had green eyes and long, glossy black hair that was blowing in the breeze as the picture was taken. He noticed the little girl had the same color hair as the women did, but her eyes were the same as the man. Zero looked to Adams and realized what the picture meant. He raised Adam's left hand to see a golden ring on his third finger.

Zero's heart fell as he placed the phone and ring into his pocket and scooped the body up into his arms. He stood and carefully wiped a tear from his eye as he walked out of the tent.

Twilight was the first to see him and began to say something but stopped when she noticed what he was holding.

"I would like to bury him," Zero announced.

"Zero, I don't think-"

"No, Twilight. I have to do this," he said a little angrily. "I've killed a married man. He deserves to be buried. "

Luna stepped up besides Twilight and said, "I believe what Twilight was going to say was she did not think there is a problem to that request."

Twilight tuned to Luna with a questioning look. "What? No I wasn't. I was going to say I don't think that's such a good idea, considering Princess Celestia said that Zero has to take everything with him back to his world and-"

Luna raised a hoof to silence Twilight and said, "I know what my sister said, Twilight Sparkle, but I do not believe that she is right.

"But-"

"I will speak with my sister when this is all done," Luna continued, "But I do not think it is right, morally and lawfully, that Zero should take the body back to his world and parade him through the streets."

Twilight looked stunned, than she lowered her head with her ears against her head.

"You're right, Luna. I didn't even think about that." She looked up at zero and apologized for not thinking about him.

He just nodded and asked where the cemetery was.

Twilight lead the group to the outskirts of the town and found the grounds keeper. She asked where a vacant spot was and after he got over his shock at the sight of Zero, pointed to a piece of land at the end of the cemetery. They walked pasted head stone after head stone and Zero tried to read the name off the ones that were still readable.

 _Glitter Storm, Hacky Sack, Snow Drop, Windy Sky, Thunder Bread, Sunset Dream, Emerald, Violet Rain, Scarlet Jewel… what strange names_ , he thought to himself.

When they finally reached a spot, Zero placed Adam on the ground and looked around.

"Does anyone have a shovel?" he asked.

Twilight's horn began to glow and the ground next to the body shook, than a perfectly rectangular hole appeared with the dirt in a neat little pile right next to it.

Discord snapped his talons and a wooden casket formed around Adam with a creaking sound.

"This casket will never degrade nor rot," He said solemnly, bowing his head in respect. I know that's a small comfort, but-"

"Thank you, Discord," Zero interrupted. "It's nice. Thank you."

Discord nodded and stepped back as Twilight came up to Zero.

"You've been through a lot today," she said. "I didn't think you needed to add grave digging to the list."

Zero knelt down and wrapped his arms around her neck and thanked her for her kindness.

Twilight stepped back a little after the hug and asked, "Would you like to say a few words be for we…"

Zero nodded before Twilight could finish.

He turned to the casket and placed a hand on top of it.

"I'm sorry," he began.

"I'm sorry I don't remember you. I'm sorry I took you from your home and family." He pulled out the ring and held it in the palm of his hand, feeling the coldness of the metal.

"I promise to find your wife and give this to her. I promise to come back for you."

He placed the ring back into his pocket and turned away from the casket. He turned his head slightly to say, "I'm sorry I don't remember you, but I will find you somewhere up here," he said, tapping his head. "I promise you that."

He turned away from the casket and nodded to Twilight. She sniffed and lowered Adam into the grave. Luna levitated the pile of dirt over Adam. Discord snapped his fingers again and a tombstone the occupants name on it appeared at the head of the fresh grave, a wreath of roses laid on it.

"Ok, Twilight Sparkle," Zero said, "I'm ready to go home."

She nodded and began to walk in the duration of the town.

There wasn't much side conversations as the group passed walked down the road. They passed a few Ponies on the way to town. They stared at Zero, but he just ignored them.

"Hey, Zero?"

Zero looked down to see the small Pegasus with a purplish pink mane looking up at him.

"I'm sorry for you loss," the little one said.

"My too, kid. Me too."

They walked in silence again as they reached the edge of town.

"OH MY GOODNES!"

The outburst startled Zero and he whirled around to find that Rarity was looking at him.

"What the heck, Rarity?" Spike said, grasping his chest. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"I just thought of something!" Rarity cried again. "You can't go home in that!" She gestured towards his bandaged chest.

"What?"

Zero looked down to that Rarity was levitating a flexible measuring tape towards him and began to wrap it around his chest.

"Where did you get tape, Rarity?" Spike asked.

"A lady is always prepared. Please lift your arms, dear."

Zero obliged and held his arms out. He noticed that Rarity wasn't writing any of the measurements down.

After a minute, Rarity nodded her head and the tape floated into her purse. "All right, I have what I need." She turned and headed down the street.

"Where are you going, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"To my shop," She called back. "I cannot have Zero walking in his home town half naked. I will meet you at your castle, Twilight. Don't start without me." She disappeared around the corner with Spike in toe.

Twilight sighed and started to walk again.

When they finally reached the Crystal Castle, the guards opened the big double doors for them. To Zero, the whole place looked as if it grew out of the ground, like some kind of crystal tree castle tree house thing. They walked up the spiral staircase and into a large hallway. The stone floor was cooled to his feet, but not uncomfortably. There were scenic pictures of mountains and lakes and such on the walls of the halls.

"Wow, Twilight," Cadance said, "Your castle looks beautiful now."

"Thanks, Cadence," Twilight said. "The new decorator really did a number on this place."

"I'd say," chimed in Applejack. "Remember when we tried to decorate this place for ya, Twilight?"

Pinkie Pie bounced at up and clapped her hoofs together. "Ha ha! Yeah. That was so much fun!"

"Yeah, but next time Pinkie, lay off on the party cannons a bit."Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes. Please, Pinkie Pie," added Twilight, "The castle staff keeps finding more and more."

"Really? I'd of thought you found them all by now."

"How many did you hide?"

"I lost count at around 50."

As they talked about the absurd amount of "party cannons", they entered through a set of doors into a library. There were shelves and stacks of books everywhere, higher than Zero. Everyone wondered off to the shelves and piles and talked amongst themselves as the waited for Rarity to return. Zero went over to one of the piles and scanned a few titles.

THE HISTORY OF THE CUPCAKE: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT PASTRY CHEF

THE GROUND, JEWELS, AND YOU

EQUESTRIA: A HISTORY

TAKE IT BIT BY BIT: FINANCES FOR ALL AGES

CATastrophe: PUN INTENDED 2- THE SQUEAKWEL

MANE TODAY IS A MANE TOMORROW: SIMPLE HAIR STYLES FOR ANY DAY OF THE WEEK

DEAD TO REALLY DEAD: HOW TO NOT BUCK UP A RELATIONSHIP

MAGIC 101

IN THE SKY FOR THE-

"I'm back!"

Rarity came galloping in with Spike running in after her, puffing and puffing.

"Huff… huf… wow…Rar…that's the…fastest…I've every… seen… you make…something…"

"Here you are, Zero." Rarity said, levitating a neatly folded piece of clothing. He put down the history book and took the blue shirt in his hands. He took off his backpack and pulled the shirt on.

"Well, how do I look?" Zero asked the group.

Rarity tilted her head slightly and said, "Very nice, dear, but aren't you going to take off your bandages?"

Zero was hopping she didn't notice that. He took his shirt off and began to remove the wraps on his chest, but left the ones on is arms. He then put the small bundle into his backpack and pulled the shirt back on. It felt nice and it fit perfectly.

"Thank you, Rarity. I love it."

"All right, ponies," Twilight said. "Stand back."

As the others gathered around her, Twilight levitate the book with a sun on the cover up to the top of some machine thing hooked up to a large mirror. The book lit up with a purple light and the energy from it worked its way across the contraption through tubes and rollers. Every one shielded their eyes as the purple light shot back to the book, then down to the mirror's surface.

Zero lowered his arm to see the mirror's reflective surface was replaced by a swirling vortex of pink.

"Ahhhhh," Discord cooed, looking over his palm tree themed sunglasses, "So this is where you've been hiding that mirror."

"Don't you even think about it, Discord," Luna said in a threatening voice.

Discord looked shocked. "What? Me? Go to another world and create all kinds of chaos and mayhem? Perish the thought!"

"Ok, Zero," Twilight said, walking over to him. "Sunset Shimmer is waiting for you and she'll do what she can to help to find out who you are."

She led him to the mirror and stood up to look him in the eyes.

"Are you ready to go home?"

Zero felt nervous but nodded anyway. He took one last look at the group around him.

"Thank you for all you've done," he said. The group answered back with your welcomes and good lucks.

"Oh! Rarity! I almost forgot!"

He swung the back pack off again and took out the rainbow dress and held it up to her.

"Thank you for letting me use this."

"You are quite welcome, Zero." she said, levitating it to Spike, who held it away at arms lengths.

Zero walked over to Applejack and knelt down to her eye level.

"And thank you for saving me, Applejack."

She tipped her hat to hide her bushing face. "Ah shucks, you would've done the same for me." She tipped her hat back and looked him deep into his eyes. "I hope you fine what you're lookin' for, Zero"

"I hope so, too."

He stood up and walked back to the mirror and stood before it. He took a deep breath and smiled at the thought of home.

 _HOME._

He stepped forward to the mirror…

…And slammed his face against its surface.


	7. Ch 6

Ch.6 – An unknown sight

"OWWWWW!" Zero yelled as he staggered back, rubbing his face.

"WHAT?!"

Twilight ran to the mirror and placed her hoof in it. Her hoof sank through the mirror's surface, causing it to shine and shimmer.

"I… I don't understand," she said, withdrawing her hoof and came around to stand behind Zero. "It should work."

She nudged him toward the mirror again, but Zero met the same resistance with it. She pushed harder, but Zero wasn't going through it.

"AH! Twilight! Stop!" Zero said, his face smashed against the unyielding surface. "It's not working!"

"This is impossible!" she said, pushing him more, "It has to work!"

Zero pushed against the glass and twisted out of Twilights grasp. He tumbled into the corner of a nearby table and Twilight disappeared through the mirror.

"AHHHHHHH!" screamed Zero, clutching his right shoulder.

Applejack came running to him and knelt in front of him. "ZERO! Are you ok?"

Zero glared at her slightly and said through gritted teeth, "NOT…REALLY…"

"What happened?" Spike asked. "Why can't you go through the mirror?" He extended his claw and Zero eventually took it, once the pain subsisted. He walked backed to the mirror and pressed his hand against it.

"I don't know," he said, trying with all of his might to push through, but to no avail.

A thought occurred to him.

He turned to the dragon and asked, "Can you go through?"

Spike nodded his head. "Yeah. I've been through a few times. I come out as a dog, though." He suddenly had a look on his face and said, "A small dog. Gosh, I wonder what I would come out as now?"

"What would **I** look like?" Discord asked with a thunder struck look on his face.

Before anyone could give a guess, the mirror lit up again and Twilight walked upright through it, looking somewhat disheveled.

"That was stupid," she said.

"What was, your highness?" an orangish Pegasus in golden armor asked.

"I had to wait until the street was cleared to come back. I thought it would last forever." She dropped to all four's and walked over to Zero.

"Why doesn't it work?" she asked her eyes full of confusion.

"Maybe… maybe he can't go through."

Everyone turned to Soarin.

"Well, no duh, Soarin," Rainbow Dash said emphatically, "It's obvious he can't go home."

"No, I mean he really CAN'T go through."

"What do you mean, Soarin?" Twilight asked.

"Well," he started, scratching the back of his head and blushing a little, "I was reading 'CAPTAIN KNIGHT: INTO THE VOID' #4 comic book the other-"

"Oh my gosh," Rainbow Dash said.

"No no, I have a point here! So I was reading it the other day. It the one where Cap. is sucked into another dimension thanks to Doctor Goons Stargate and can't get back until he frees the ponies of Riangard from the tyrannical rule of Prince Black Heart."

"I remember that one," Spike said. "That's the one where Cap. finds out he can use magic."

"Yeah," Sorain said, "After he defeats the 'LEAUGE OF LIE'S' third member, THE POWERFUL MAGICIAN in #6,"

"That was a great fight!"

"I know, right! The way magician starts throwing rocks and Cap. just punches them out of the air!"

"AH, I loved that! OH! And when Staple comes and she-"

"Boys!" Twilight yelled, looking at Spike and stomping her hoof on the ground, "You can talk about comic books later!" She turned back to Soarin with a stern look. "What is your point, Soarin?"

"Well, Cap. can't return to his world until he defeats Black heart and uses the STONES OF RULE to open a portal back home. Maybe Zero needs to do something or have something to help him get back home."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash said. "It's a comic book! When has anything in a comic book happen in real life?

"When did anything happen in DARING DO happen in real life?" Soarin countered.

"Hey, I helped Daring Do save Equestria from Ahuizotl and-"

"When has a human ever entered Equestria?" asked Luna. Rainbow and Soarin stopped their bickering and looked at her with surprise.

"Whether Zero must take on a heroic deed or must find an ancient artifact is besides the point," she continued, walking right up to Zero. "The point is now that we know he cannot use the mirror to go home. What will become of him now?"

Zero stared into the dark mare's eyes to find she wasn't asking out of spite or anger, but out of worry and concern.

"I can run some test on him," Twilight said.

Zero whirled around to her with horror on his face.

"Don't worry," she said, "I won't cut you open or anything like that. I'll just strap some wires onto you and take a few samples."

"Wires?" Zero asked worriedly. "Samples?"

"Regardless of what you do, Twilight," Luna said, "I must report this back to my sister."

She walked over to the glass doors that lead out onto a balcony and opened them, letting a gust of fresh air blow through, sending papers everywhere.

"AHHH! MY NOTES!"

Twilight began to scramble around, gathering the pieces of papers with some help from the others while Zero walked over to Luna.

"What will you tell your sister?" he asked.

"I will tell her the truth. 'That the human known only as Zero is unable to return home and must reside here for the time being'."

"Will she get angry at that?"

"Most likely. But I will make sure she will not blast you into…whatever my sister is feeling blasting you into."

Zero gulped at that imagery, but held out a hand to the dark pony. "It was nice to meet you, Princess Luna."

"And you, Zero." She took his hand with her hoof and shook it. Then she unfurled her wings and took off towards the mountains.

Zero watched her go until something floated by, catching his eye. He caught the paper right out of the air before it could go over the railing and out of reach.

"Wow."

Zero turned around to see Applejack standing behind him with a stack of papers in her front hoofs and a surprise look her face.

"I ain't never seen somepony move that fast before. Well, maybe after Dash's done her rain boom thing."

"Her what?"

"Never mind."

Zero walked over to her and took the stack of paper from her and walked with her back into the library.

"So," Applejack said, walking over to the little yellow filly with the reddish mane and big red bow in it, "Now that you're stuck here for the time bein', I rekon you need a place to stay."

"I guess so."

"OHHH!" Squealed the little one. "Can Zero stay with us?"

"If he wants to, Apple Bloom."

"Zero isn't going anywhere," Twilight said, gathering stacks of paper from everyone, "Until I have my data."

"Twi," Applejack said, "You can't go experimentin' on poor Zero here. He's been through enough today."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom said.

"I'm sorry, Twilly," a tall white unicorn with a blue mane said. "I agree with Applejack and her sister. Zero's been through a lot today."

"But-"

"Come on, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I agree with them."

"You too, Fluttershy?"

"Zero must be tired from everything he's gone through today and-"

"No."

Everyone turned to Zero with shocked faces. Fluttershy looked taken aback by his outburst.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I didn't mean to yell that." He cleared his throat and tried again.

"I am tired, but if it would help Twilight figure out why I can't go home, then I'll gladly do any tests she need me to do."

Zero walked up to Twilight and knelt down to look her in the eyes.

"What is it you need me to do?"

* * *

BEEP…

BEEP…

BEEP…

BEEP…

"Hmmmm…"

Zero turned towards the voice the best he could, but being strapped to a chair and the neck brace thing made it rather difficult. Everyone had left hours ago and it was just Zero and Twilight alone in her lab.

"What is it?" Zero asked over his shoulder towards the voice.

"Oh its nothing," Twilight said, tapping at one of her machines she just threw together a while ago, "I'm just thinking if I'm doing this right."

A worried look flashed across Zeros face.

 _Oh man, what does that mean?_

Twilight came hurriedly into view.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just…"

"What?"

"It's just …hard."

"What do you mean?"

The sound of a sharp beep and paper printing filled the lab. Twilight trotted over and looked at it, deep in thought.

"What does it say?"

"…HUH? OH!"

Twilight floated a marker to the paper and marked a few places.

"Sorry, Zero. It's hard to concentrate on you and this at the same time."

She hurried over to another machine and jotted down the numbers of its display.

"So... what are you doing again?"

Twilight walked out of his view and a series of crashing ensued.

"Nahh, crud."

"Hey! You okay back there?!"

"Yeah, I just need to build a new spectrophotometer now."

Zero mauled this information over in his mind as the room filled with the sound od plastic and metal scraping together lightly.

"Spectro… Hey. What do you need to measure light for?"

"Oh, I'm just seeing what colors you can take."

"What would happen if I couldn't take a color?"

"I don't know."

Zero tried to turn his head as much as possible to glare at the pony. A few gelled electrodes bald head popped off of his.

"Are you telling me you were just going to see what would happen if I got hit by the wrong shade of pink?"

"Oh calm down. If you were sensitive to pink, you would have exploded when you saw Pinkie Pie. Now hold still. I have to reattach these electrodes you popped off."

Zero leaned back in his chair as Twilight rubbed some gel on his head and reattached the electrodes.

"Tell me again why I agreed to this."

"So you can return home?"

"Hope I don't die before that."

"Oh, don't be such a baby. Now I'm almost done with making a bascis on you. Just a few more minute."

Zero took a deep breath and noticed a strange light on the opposite side on the wall.

"Hey Twilight. What's that reddish glow along the wall?"

Twilight turned to look at where Zero was trying to point.

"Where?"

"High on the wall."

"Oh that? That's the color of the sunset happing outside."

"Sunset? What's that?"

Twilight turned with a look of utter astoninment on her face.

"You've never seen a sunset before?"

"I don't get out much," Zero said, shaking his head.

"Well we can finish the tests later then," Twilight said, levitating the electrodes and wires and neck brace off of Zero. "Come on. Let's go see it"

Zero stood up and raised his arms over his head stretched his back. He grabbed the blue shirt Rarity made him and pulled it over his head as he ran after Twilight up the stairs as she led him through hall after hall, the sounds of hoofs and bare feet on stone floor filling them.

"Come on! We're almost there!"

They ran up another flight of stairs to what Twilight said was the tallest tower the castle had, used as an observatory. When they reached it, Twilight opened the doors that led to the roof and Zero was greeted with a red and orange sky.

The view was incredible.

Zero stood on the roof and saw that ponies were walking around in the town below. He saw the mountains to the north and a huge forest stretched to the south farther than the eyes could see. In the east was a gigantic cloud with what looked to have buildings and a rainbow water fall. And in the west was a lake and…

"Wow," was all Zero could say.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Zero could only nod and sit on the slightly slanted roof.

"Princess Celestia is really pulling out the stops on the sunset today."

"Huh?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Princess Celestia and Luna raise the sun and moon every day."

"They do? Every day?"

"Yeah. The weather, sun, moon, or even season's aren't automatic like it is in your world. The Pegasi create the weather and move the clouds while the earth ponies plant crops and such."

"Earth ponies?"

"Ponies without wings or horns."

"Oh. Like Applejack and her sister."

"Yes."

"So what do the Unicorns do?"

"They use their horn as a conductor for the magic that is in the air. They call upon it when they need it and us spells that help with everyday life."

"Wow. So what do you call yourself then, Twilight, seeing as you have wings and a horn?""

"An Alicorn."

"A what?"

"An Alicorn. A pony with almost unlimited magical powers and considered as royalty and, in ancient times, Gods."

"You consider yourself a god?"

"NO! Not at all! I consider me to be a pony with wings and a horn. I'm no god."

"But do you consider yourself royalty?"

Twilight moved her hoof a little back and forth as she said, "Ehh. Im not of royal blood, but I do have a castle and I am one of the four Alicorns of our world, and the youngest."

"Youngest?"

"Yes. I became an Alicorn almost 4 years ago. Cadence became one while I was still a filly, and Celestia and Luna were born Alicorns 1000 years ago and-"

"1000 YEAR'S AGO?! Holy crap, how are they still alive?"

Alicorns are immortal, Zero. "

"Really?"

"As far as I knew."

"Are you immortal?"

"I really haven't tested that yet. I'm not going to stab myself in the heart just to see if I'll live through it."

"No, but you'll just shine a bunch of colors at a human to see if he'll die from it."

Twilight bowed her head in shame as her wing unfurled from her back and touched the roof.

"I'm sorry, Zero. I didn't mean for anything to hap-"

Zero interrupted her by playfully punching her in her shoulder.

"Come on, Twilight, I was kidding. You may act like a mad scientist, but I can tell you just really love your work. I trust you."

"Thanks, Zero." Twilight said, laughed and ran a hoof across her face. She let out a yawn.

"Wow. It's gotten late. The sun set without our knowing and the stars are out already."

Zero looked up and gasped.

The orange and red sky was indeed gone. In its place was a black sky full of tiny little dotes and one big light in the east peaking over the cloud city.

"Come on, Zero. It's late. You can sleep in one of the guest… Zero?"

Twilight was making her way down the roof until she realized Zero was still up there. When she got back to the roof, she found that the human was standing as tall as he could, stretching his hand as far as he could towards the sky.

"Zero? You ok?"

A tear rolled down his check as his hand closed on thin air.

"Zero!" Twilight climbed the rest of the ladder and went to him. "Zero, what's wrong?"

"It's… beautiful."

Zero wiped his eyes and looked at Twilight.

"Sorry. It's just that I've… I've never seen anything like it."

"You've never seen this?"

Zero shook his head and he sat down.

"Is it ok if I just stay up here tonight?"

Twilight hesitated, and then nodded. "I'll get you a blanket."

Twilight descended the ladder again and found what she was looking for on one of her desks in the observatory. She came back to find that Zero had already fallen asleep, flat on his back with his face towards the heavens, a small smile on his face. Twilight levitated the blanket over the sleeping human from the hole as to not wake him up.

"Good night, Zero. Sweet dreams."

She descended again and made her way through her castle.. The castle staff had already gone home for the night, but the guards were still patrolling the hall. They bowed as she passed them and she nodded back, her mind on other things.

"Everything alright, your highness?"

Twilight turned as an orangish Pegasus in golden armor walked up to her and bowed.

"Yes, Flash. Everything is fine."

"Up late again with another project of yours?"

Twilight thought of a response as she opened the door to her lab.

"You can say that."

"How is he, by the way?" Flash Sentry said, leaning his spear against the wall as he closed the door with his back hoof.

"He's… adjusting…I think."

Twilight gathered up her note that were struned around the room and started to switch off the machines on the tables. She gathered up the wires and moved the chair from the middle of the room. She gave out a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong, my princess?"Flash said, coming up to her and kiss her.

"Oh, it's just this whole thing about Zero and Princess Celesita being mad at him being in Equestria and stuff."

"I heard about what happened at the hospital. Why is she so mad about Zero?"

"She wouldn't tell me," Twilight said as she moved her machines to one side of the room. "All she said was 'Zero does not belong here' over and over again. She wants him out."

"What will she do to him now that he can't go home?"

"I don't know."

Twilight was filing the last bit of her notes when a Zero bag caught her eyes. She levitated it to her and looked at the contents inside it; a few pieces of paper with stats and math equations on them, a small tube of something, a key from the broken piano, a guitar pick, and a few books. Twilight lifted the books out to examine them closer and read the tiles.

THE ART OF WAR

THE WIZARD OF OZ

THE COMPLETE HUMAN ANATOMY

"This would have helped me a few hours ago," Twilight said, placing all three books on the nearby desk. She sat down on the cushion and lit a candle.

"So everyone else is gone," Flash said, sitting next to her. "I thought we could… maybe…you know…"

"Sorry, Flash. Not tonight." Twilight turned and kissed him on the cheek. "I can help you on your studies later."

"I have a test this week, Twi. I don't want to fail."

"And you won't. Not with my tutoring. Why you decided to take cultural economics is beyond me. You don't even like it."

"I know, but I want to make my dad happy by acing the semester. Then I won't have to bother with it ever again."

"Well I have a lot more to do on Zero's basis before the night is over."

"Basis of what?"

Twilight cracked open the anatomy book and started jotting notes down.

"Well, if anything happens to Zero while he's here, like say he breaks an arm or something, we can fix him up and stuff."

"What about the machines you where putting away earlier? What were they for?"

"To jot down his brain wave pattern, heartbeat, blood flow, bone density, color absorption; you know, stuff like that."

"Uh huh," Flash said as he got up and gently turned Twilight's face towards his. He kissed her and placed his forehead on hers.

"Don't stay up to late, my princess. You have a meeting with the representative of Manehatton at 8."

"I do? About what?"

"It's about the statue their making in honor of saving them from Triek."

"Uhhh. Not other one. I appreciate the gesture, but I'm sure the ponies could spend their tax bits on something other than a statue."

"You should tell him that tomorrow morning."

Flash hugged her and kissed her again.

"I'm going to finish my rounds and head off to bed. Get plenty of sleep, please."

"Good light, Flash."

"Good night, your highness."

Flash grabbed his spear and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Twilight with a new book that entertain her well into the night.


	8. ch 7

Ch.7 – The sound of music

DARK…

DARKNESS…

FLOATING…

PAIN…

PAIN…

LIGHT…

BLINDING LIGHT…

HARD SURFACE…

COLD SURFACE…

PAIN…

SHADOWS…

"WHO ARE YOU?"

 _Who am I?_

"WHO ARE YOU?"

… _my… name…_

SHADOWS…

CLOSER…

SURROUNDING …

SUFFOCATING…

 _Can't…breath…_

"What is your name?"

The voice was soft as a cloud, but shook the darkness and echoed like an army of booming drum.

… _I…I…_

"Your name."

"My…my name…I am…"

Zero gasped and clutched his chest as he rolled on the roof. The world spun and he didn't know which way was up as he fell through the opening of the observatory. When he finally hit the bottom of the ladder, he was so tangled up in the blanket he didn't even know he was on him. He finally got his breathing under control and just laid there, letting the pain subside.

Zero looked through the hole on the ceiling at the diamond sky, but it looked a little different. It looked…not as dark.

Lighter, even.

Zero struggled against his restrain and twisted and pulled until finally getting one arm out. With a short triumphant laugh, he untangled himself further until the blanket had released him. He kicked it aside and hurried up the stairs. The sky was getting lighter in the east, but the city cloud wasn't there.

 _I guess the Pegasi moved it._

The dark sky grew even lighter until the sun came over the horizon.

It was …

…Indescribable….

Zero closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, taking in the rays of orange and gold light. He took in a deep breath and sighed.

Zero sat down for a few minutes until a deep growling noise erupted from his stomach. He took one last look at the beautiful sunrise before he descended the stairs. He folded the blanket and carried it as he went on the hunt for something to eat.

As he made his way to get something to eat, he bobbed and weaved and danced around the maid hustling and bustling and around, performing their daily duties. He asked one where he could get something to eat and she gestured with her hoof to a door at the end of the hall. Zero thanked her and she tilted her head towards him, grabbing the blanket he had and walked off in the fold of maids. As Zero walked down the hall, he pasted a room with the roots of a tree as a chandelier. Gems on strings hung from the rots and glinted in the morning sun light. The room was large and circular with six tall crystal chairs surrounding a very large crystal table with a star in the middle of it.

"AAAHHH! Good morning, Zero."

Zero tuned around to find a sleepy and matted hair Twilight yawning and rubbing her eyes entering the room.

"Morning, Twilight. How are you?"

"Tired."

Another yawn escaped her and she shook her head.

"Ahhh! I've got to stop pulling all nighters so frequently."

Twilight trotted over a chair with a purple star on it that look familiar to Zero.

"Did you sleep well?" she said, placing the pad of paper and book she was levitating next to her plate.

Zero took the seat next to hers before answering as a waiter came in and placed a big stack of pancakes, a dish of butter, syrup, strawberries, fancy looking glasses with orange juice, and a can of whipped cream on the table.

"I did, but I was woken up kind of painfully."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Zero recognized the book next to Twilights plate as his anatomy book.

"Is that why you stayed up all night?" he said, pointing at the book with his fork.

"It's fascinating!" Twilight exclaimed, opening it up with her magic and began to read.

'The human body has around 640-850 muscles, split into three groups; skeletal, visceral, and cardiac. The skeletal muscles are voluntary, whereas the visceral muscles are involuntary. Cardiac muscle make up the wall of the heart, (about the size of a fist)'- whatever that is- 'and is responsible for the forceful contraction of the heart.'

Twilight looked away a bit to take a bit of pancake before continuing.

"You're just like me, Zero. Of course, our hearts are larger than yours due to the fact we pump more blood then you do and-"

"Excuse me, your Highness?"

A pony poked his head in and Twilight swallowed before gesturing the pony in with a hoof.

"The representative of Manehatton is here."

"Really? Wow. They're here early." Twilight placed the book down and trotted to the door.

"I'll be right back, Zero. This won't take long. Then we can continue with your basis."

"Wait. What?"

"Don't worry! It'll be just a couple of more days!"

*A week later*

Applejack woke to the sound of a knock on her door.

"AJ, ya awake?"

"Uhh. No, but I have ta answer the door anyway," she said sarcastically, sitting up as Big Mac came in with a tray of food in his mouth.

"Funny. Here, eat. You've gotta big day."

Applejack looked at her brother with a questioning face as he placed the tray on her lap.

"What do ya mean, big day?"

Big Mac sat on the edge of her bed, with the same confused look as she was giving him.

"Didn't ya tell me you talked ta a Mr. Surplus about sellin' some apples to him?"

It took a moment for Applejack to comprehend his words. Then the night of the Gala came back to her.

"Oh yeah! Crud, I forgot!" She began to horse down the food until her bother stopped her.

"Whoa there, AJ! Not so fast! You'll choke! Easy, girl. You've got time."

Big Mac got off the bed and headed to the door. "I'll bring the carts to the east orchard for ya to fill up. YOU just take it easy for a few minutes."

AJ watch her brother go and waited to hear his hoofs descend the steps. She took a few minutes finished her food, then she trotted over to the mirror to brush her bed head out a bit.

The mare in the mirror looked a little more relaxed this morning, but not by much.

AJ stared at her and she stared back.

They both said nothing, but their eyes said it all.

 _The dream_.

"AJ!"

The call of her name from her little sister shook her bake to her room.

"Comin'!"

AJ grabbed her hat and a hair tie and closed her door behind her.

Apple Bloom stood in the doorway, eagerly hopping from one hoof to the other.

"Don't ya have a play date with Sweetie and Scoot's?"

"Yeah, later," the little one said, trotting after her big sister. "I've got time ta help with your thing."

"Well, thanks, little one," AJ said, ruffling up Apple Blooms hair. Apple Bloom wriggled out of her grasp and trotted by her sister to the east end of the orchard.

It took them and Big Mac most of the morning to fill the carts and sift out the bad apples. Apple Bloom waved good bye at mid morning as she raced down the road to meet up with the girls while AJ and Big Mac hooked the cart to their backs and dropped them of at the barn. They went back to collect the rest of the cart. In the end they moved 8 carts into the barn and placed tarps over 6 of them. They then strapped a cart to each of them again and made of down the road.

They entered the town and stated to head toward the train station when a voice called out to Big Mac.

"BIG MAC!"

"Cheerilee!"

Big Mac hugged and kissed his marefriend and AJ felt a tiny bit of something way deep inside of her.

"Big Mac! I'm glad I found you." Cheerilee kissed him and hugged him again. "I need your help right now. Are you free?"

"Nope."

"Dang. Biceps was going to help move Cranky and Matilda move, but something came up for him. Something about the Lotus or something. Anyway, Matilda asked if I knew somepony else who could move a couch."

Big Mac looked at AJ and turned back to the teacher.

"Sorry, Cheerilee, but I'm helping-"

"Good morning!"

Cheerilee gasped and hid behind Big Mac, who instinctively stepped in front of her, as a tan upright creature covered in sweat ran towards the group. It stopped just before AJ and gave a greeting again.

"Mornin' to ya too… Zero, wasn't it?" AJ asked.

The creature nodded as he caught his breath. He took ear buds out of his ears and put them in his pocket.

"Yeah… huh…huh… and you're… Miss Applejackie?"

"Applejack. No "Jackie". "

"Ah… huh, huh… got it."

Zero took a water bottle from his back pocket and downed it in a few gulps.

"AJ?"

AJ turned to see her bother with a questioning look.

"Oh! Zero, this is my brother, Big Macintosh. And this is his marefriend, Cherrilee."

"Nice to meet you both, Big Macintosh, Cheerilee." Zero extended a hand towards them and they just stared at it.

"Oh! Sorry." Zero wiped his sweaty hand on his pant and extended it again. They stared at it again until Big Mac finally took it and firmly shook it.

"Nice ta meet ya."

"It's nice to meet you too. Hey, I was wondering if I could have one." Zero said, pointing to the carts full of apples.

AJ kicked her cart and an apple flew up and made an arced towards Zero. He caught it and took a bite.

"Mmmm… Delicious. Thank you, Applejack. So, what are you people up to today?"

"…What?"

"Ah, dang it. I did it again. I mean "Ponies". What are you 'Ponies' up to today?""

"Well, we _were_ goin' to Canterlot for a bit of business," AJ said, gesturing to Big Mac and her. "But Cheerilee needs Big Macs help movin' some furniture around, so now I don't know what we're gonna-"

"I'll help."

AJ looked back Zero, bouncing on the balls of his bare feet.

"What?"

"I'll help you with your Canterlot thing,while Mr. Big Macintosh-"

"Big Mac," Big Mac said.

"Big Mac helps Cheerilee with the moving."

"No."

AJ turn to see a stern look on her brothers face this it.

"Ok. I'll help with the move, then."

AJ noticed that Cheerilee made a face that she couldn't quiet place, but she was glad Zero didn't catch it.

"Big Mac, I can-"

"No, AJ."

"Mac. Cheerilee needs you. I'm fine."

Big Mac looked from his sister, to Zero, and finally to his marefriend. He sighed and then eyed Zero again. A few moments passed until he finally gave a sharp nod.

"All right then," AJ said.

Then something accrued to her.

"Zero, can you pull a cart?"

Zero looked at her as if this just accrued to him too.

"I think so. Here, let me try."

AJ and Zero helped Big Mac detach his cart from him and everypony quickly realized that the cart wasn't going on Zeros back.

"Well, crud," Zero said as he took the cloth from his back pocket and unraveled it into a green shirt. He wiped his face with it, and then pulled it over his head. "Well, now what?"

Cheerilee came over and took a closer look at the carts front.

"If you somehow attach a long piece of wood between these two points, then you could push it rather then pull it."

"Sweet," Zero said. "So how do we do that?"

"Hmmm… OH! Give me a moment!"Cheerilee gave Big Mac a quick kiss and ran off in the direction of town, leaving the three along together.

There was an awkward silence between them. Zero rocked back and forth on his bare feet and Big Mac kick a pebble around a bit. The awkwardness got thick until AJ broke the silence.

"So why were ya runnin', Zero?"

"I was running for Princess Twilight's basis so she- AH CRUD!"

"What?"

"I forgot about Princess Twilight! Man, I've gotta go tell her that I'm helping you out! I'll be right back! Don't go away where!"

Zero spun around and sprinted off, leaving AJ alone with her brother.

" AJ-"

"I know you're taking care of me, but it ain't my first trip to Canterlot."

"I know that, but…"

"But what?"

"I'm just worried about you. Ever since Tim-"

"Stop right there, Big Mac!"

"Sorry. Well, ever since… HIM… happened, you've been different!"

"OF COURSE I'VE BEEN DIFFERENT! YOU WOULD TO IF YOU-"

Applejack stopped herself and took a deep breath.

"The point I'm trying to make, AJ, is to be careful. Please."

"I will, and I'm tellin' ya I'm fi-"

"OK, I'm back!"

Cheerilee trotted to the cart with a long round piece of wood and some rope.

"Was that you yelling a minute ago, AJ?" Cheerilee asked, as she pulled a pocketknife from her satchel and began to carve some grooves into the top of the handle of the cart.

"Wha? Oh! Yeah. I saw… a… spider…. and freaked out."

Cheerilee stopped in mid stroke and stared at AJ.

"Really? Since when are you scared of-"

"OK, GUYS! I'M BACK!"

AJ turned to see Zero jogging down the now somewhat crowded street. Everypony looked on with a mixture of shock and awe as the human ran by with a "Good morning!" greeting. Mothers held their children tightly, and the fathers stood in front of their families. But the little ones looked past their parents legs and smiled at the new creature among them.

"Well, did ya find Twilight?" AJ asked.

"No, actually. Never made it to the castle. I found a guard and asked them to relay a message to Princess Twilight."

"Aaaaaand DONE!"

Cheerilee stood back from her hoofdywork and smiled.

"Come on, Big Mac! We've got to go!" She grabbed Big Mac's hoof and basically dragged him off as he said "goodbye" and "be safe" to his sister.

"Well," Zero said, "She was in a hurry to move those people. I mean ponies."

"Their movin' the Donkeys," AJ commented, "And I think their gonna do more than just help move 'em"

"What?"

"Nothin'. Come on. Time to go to Canterlot."

AJ and Zero pulled their carts to the train station and bought the express tickets. A few minutes later the train pulled into the station and they pulled their carts into the cargo hold, and AJ locked them to the floor with the provided chains. They then walked through three cars until they found an open bench.

"Man," Zero said as he sat down, "Kinda crowded today, huh?"

"Yeah. I wonder why."

Zero stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

"AHHHHH! Well, Miss Applejack, we've got a couple of hours before we reach Canterlot. Tell me about yourself."

AJ hopped on the bench and settled in for the long ride.

"Well, there 'aint much ta say about me. I've lived in Ponyville all my life. I work on the farm, buckin' apples. That's pretty much it."

"Ah, come on. There's gotta be more than that. Princess Twilight said you guys-sorry- girls fought some dude named Tirek, I think?"

"Nah, I never fought him. That was all Twilight."

" Ah, come on."

"Ok, ok, settle down. I'll tell you a story."

AJ told Zero about how she left Ponyville for Manehattan and lived with her Aunt and Uncle Orange for a bit when she was younger. She tasted the rich life and found it wasn't for her. She returned to her true home and found out who she was due to a rainbow appearing in the sky from the direction of Ponyville. She told the tale of how Discord was released from his stone prison and how she and the girl defeated him. She went on to the first time the Changlings attacked, the return of Discord, how he and Fluttershy became friends, then more than friends.

"Now I just learned about their engagement 2 weeks ago, when you showed…"

AJ trailed of as something accrued to her.

"So what was up with that gold circle thing you came out of?"

"You know, I wish I knew. All I remember is shadows and pain. Lots and lots of pain."

AJ didn't know what to say to that, so she just let that hung in for a bit. She watched as the landscape zoom by her window. Thoughts began to creep into her mind at what Zero said.

 _Shadows and pain._

Like her.

Her and _him._

The one that did … to her.

The one that took something important to her away.

The way he took it.

The way he-

"Hey AJ, you ok?"

AJ snapped back to reality and saw Zero was staring at her. There was something wet on her cheeks and she moved to wipe them clean.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just … never mind."

"OK."

Zero looked forward for a while until AJ asked, "So do you like it here, Zero?"

"Oh I love it. The sky is blue, the grass in green, and I don't have to be in a box anymore."

"Oh."

"And I especially love today, because I'm finally getting out of the castle and going to see Canterlot, Capital of Equesrtia! OH, I can't wait! I wonder if you could see it from here."

Zero leaned over AJ to look out the window. AJ leaned back and saw his skin up close. Round and long slashes of scars retiled his neck and head. She almost asked him about them again until a thought accrued to her.

"You haven't been out of the castle 'till now?

"Well, technically I've been out running in Ponyville for exercise and such, but Princess Twilight always tells me to come back. All I do is read and get tested on. I almost know the names to half the staff in the castle. Hey look! There it is!"

AJ looked and saw that Canterlot was indeed coming into view. The train past through a tunnel and the cabin went dark. AJ felt something grab her hoof and yelled in surprise.

"Sorry." A voice said next to her. "I wasn't ready for that."

"Ready for what?" AJ asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

"For it to get that dark that fast. WOW!"

The train broke thought the darkness and Canterlot stood before them .The train pulled into the station and after Zero finally let go of AJ's hoof; they both went into the cargo car and grabbed their apple cart. As they left the train station, AJ glanced back and smiled at the wonder on Zero's face.

"Big place, huh?"

Zero just nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. I remember when we took Apple Bloom here for the first time."

As they walked, AJ asked a passerby where the Surplus center was. They pointed off towards the center of the city and AJ trotted off with Zero close behind. They eventually came to a cross street filled with the hustle and bustle of ponies going around their business.

"Dang," AJ said. "This might take a while ta cross."

They waited until AJ saw her chance. She jumped forward with her cart and melted into the crowed, leaving Zero behind.

"HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME?!"

"WHAT DO YA MEAN?" AJ called over her shoulder, " COME ON!"

Zero started to walk and the crowed stopped. They parted and Zero easily caught up with AJ.

"What are they all staring at?" Zero almost whispered. "Is there something on my face?"

"I think it's 'cause they've never seen somethin' like you before, Zee."

As they walked, the crowed parted more until the two were standing in a clearing. The faces of the ponies were mostly of awe, but AJ noticed a few worried and disgusted looks in the crowd.

A little gray unicorn with a yellow man came out of the crowd and stood in front of Zero and looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Excuse me," she said in a small voice, "What are you?"

Zero crouched down and stared at the filly, and then he smiled and patted the little one on the head.

"Me? My name is Zero, little one. What's yours?"

"Te-Tender."

"Well, little Tender, it's nice to meet you." Zero extended his hand towards Tender. Tender stared at the gesture and extended a shaky hoof to it. Zero shook it and AJ could feel something release from the crowd.

Relief, maybe?

Zero stood up and reached back into his cart and handed an apple to Tender. He waved as he and AJ made their way through the crowd into the Surplus center. Zero kept an eye on AJ's cart but he was mostly looking around with wonder at all the hustle and bustle of the city. For a week he's been getting used to the small town of Ponyville. But now…

He breathed in the air and felt the tightly laid cobble stones with his feet. He saw shops selling food, clothing, toys, music, bicycles, flowers, cakes, tools, furniture, little trinkets, and all sorts of things. He saw ponies in all sorts of colors, form blue and purple to bright pink and dark gray. Little ones ran around squealing and laughing, chasing each other and playing games. The sun was out. The sky was blue. The-

WHAM

Zero walked right into AJ's cart, knocking the wind out of him.

"AAH! What was that?"

"OW," Zero said, rubbing his stomach, "Why did you stop?"

"Cause we're here. What'd ya run into me for?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

Zero straightened up and saw that they had stopped in front of a big brick building with a sign that read, MR. SURPLUS' SURPLUS!, in big bold letters.

"OK," AJ said, turning around to face Zero, "You wait here. I'm gonna go in and see where Mr. Surplus wants my apples."

Zero gave the thumbs up and nodded. He helped her unhook her cart and pushed it to the side of the building along with his. He leaned up against the wall and stared out at the city. Pegai were flying around, carrying things from food to books and a few were helping each other with a couch. Unicorns were levitating things in front or behind themselves as they walked about their business, hustling along their little ones.

Zero smiled and waved to the little ones that stared at him with amazement. He took three apples and began to juggle them. He drew in a small crowd as he flipped and threw and juggled the apples all around him. The crowd oohed and aahed as Zero's stunts became more and more elaborate. He'd toss the apples high in the air and spun around and catch them at the last second. He gently juggled them with his feet while he did a hand stand.

The crowd was eating it up.

Zero kicked the apples into the air as he push off the ground with all of his might and flipped in the air. He landed on one leg with his arms and right leg sticking out in all directions. The apples fell perfectly on his limbs and head. The crowd stomped their hoof on the ground and cheered.

"THIS IS HORSE PUCKY!"

Zero fell over at the outburst that AJ emitted as she slammed the door open.

"What? What happened, AJ?"

"DANG IT ALL!"

"AJ! Whoa, girl! Calm down! What's wrong?"

"Mr. Surplus has no idea how I am! Hedoesn't remember our talk at the Grand Gala and has no idea why I'm here with my apples! He can't take them!"

"What? Why?"

"His "assistance" said they have more apples then they can handle right now!"

"AJ! Why are you yelling this at me?"

"BECAUSE I WORKED HARD TO GET THOSE APPLES HERE AND I'M NOT GOING TA LET SOME FAT YELLOR BELLY STALLION TELL ME WHAT-"

Zero crouched down and hugged AJ before she could finish her though.

"I'm sorry, AJ. I'm sorry it didn't work out with the Surplus store. I know you've worked hard for you and your family. Twilights told me all about what you've done for them." He pulled away at arm's length and looked deep into her emerald eyes. "But you've got to calm down. Its ok, Applejack. We'll think of something."

Zero hugged her again and stood up to retrieve the carts. He helped her with hers, then hooked up his own and proceeded back down the street. The crowd parted and went their separate ways.

"Hey, AJ," Zero called back to her, "What happens to the apples you don't sell?"

"They go to the pigs, or we ground 'em up for fertilizer. But with this many apples…"

Zero nodded.

"What a waste. Can't you magically preserve them or something?

"Yeah, but the apples lose a bit of their taste. Not by much, but enough to notice."

"How long will these last without that preservation magic?"

"A while, but I sure would have liked to have sold them by now."

They walked in silence for the rest of the way until they wound their way into the square again, which was now even more crowded now. Zero used his towering figure to scan the hustling ponies when he heard something.

"Come and get your music fix! Need a guitar? Interested in learning the drums? Want to serenade that special somepony with the Saxophone? We've got it all at the Purple Clef Lodge!"

Zero turned to a little shop and saw a green unicorn with a slightly yellow mane out front calling to the crowds of ponies passing by. Zero walked up to her and she reared back and fell through the door.

"Oh! Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you! Here, let me help you."

Zero unhooked his cart and extended a hand. The mare looked at it for a moment, and then took it with a shaky hoof. Zero pulled and the mare stood up on her hoofs and backed away a little.

"You ok out here-"

A blue pony with a brown mane came from the back room and stopped dead in his tracks. A small filly walked up next to him and gasped a little.

"Hi, Tender," Zero said, giving a small wave towards the little one. The little filly ran around her father's and peak around his leg. "H-hello, Mr. Zero."

Her father came over and looked him over. 'So, you know my daughter?"

"Yes, sir, I do." Zero extended a hand towards him. "I'm Zero."

"My name is Blue Note and this is my wife, Lila Note."

"Nice ta meet ya two." Aj said from the side. She turned towards Zero and said a low voice, "Come on, Zee. It's been a long and disappointin' day and I just want ta go home."

"OK, AJ. Give me a second. I…. I don't know. I feel… like I was drawn to this place." He turned back to the couple and walking in towards them. "So why PURPLE CLEF LODGE for a name?"

"Well, it's my father's, actually," Lila answered. "Or it was, before he past two years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you. It's been tough without him. This store is failing, too. Ponies just don't want to play music anymore, I guess."

"I do!" piped up Tender.

"Oh really?" zero said, crouching down to her. "What's your favorite instrument?"

Tender ran out of the room and came back, floating a small string instrument next to her.

"THIS ONE!" she said excitedly, floating the thing towards Zero.

Zero extended this hand out and grabbed the thing. It reminded him of a ukulele.

"Oh! Nice choice, little one." Zero bent down and ruffled up her mane a bit. He played a few notes and the sound was shard and clear. His fingers then began to move on their own. His hand strummed away at a tone he didn't quite but felt it was a song that was part of him. Finally it clicked and Zero began to sing.

Somewhere over the rainbow,

Way up high,

And the dreams that you dreamed of

Once in a lullaby.

His voice got a little bit louder as walk away from the store front into the busy street. He closed his eyes and sang about blue birds flying and lemon drops high over the tops of chimneys. He sang about friends shaking hand and asking how do they do, but that was just there way of saying they loved them and how what a wonderful world it was. He sang about trees of green and red roses too, he sang of children growing up in a wonderful world.

Zero sang his heart out until he felt something wet on his cheek. He finished the song and opened his eyes to find a crowd of ponies staring at him. They clapped their hoofs and cheered and places coins into a hat by his feet. He wiped his cheeks and asked what the hat was for.

"Oh. Well, a few ponies came up and throw them at ya feet, but you were movin' around a lost and I didn't want ya to slip, so I throw it down there."

Zero picked it up and felt the weight of his haul. He looked at the store, then to Aj and her apples.

"I've got a crazy idea, AJ."

"What do ya mean?"

"Watch."

Zero walked into the store again and knelt down in front of Tender.

"Look at what your ukulele did."

Tenders looked at the hat with wide eyes. Zero held it towards Mrs. Note. "I want you to have it, Mrs. Note."

"Oh no, I couldn't!"

"Please. For your store."

With tears weld up in her eyes, Mrs. Note levitated the hat towards herself. "Thank you, Zero."

"Yes. Thank you, sir."

"THANK YOU, !"

"Ummmm…," AJ said from the door, "I'd hate ta say this, but can I have my hat back?"

"Oh yes. Yes of course, deary."

"I have a favor to ask of you too, actually," said zero as he rufflerd up Tenders mane again and handed back her ukulele.

"Anything."

"Could I barrow that guitar over there?"

Mrs. Note floated the guitar that Zero pointed at to him. Zero adjusted the shoulder strap and pulled a pick from the holder on the side. He strummed a bit and tuned it to his liking until he was satisfied. He picked away and walked out into the street again, letting his fingers play away as he sang a song.

Given me more lovin' then I ever had.

Ya make it all better when I'm fellin' sad.

Make me feel special even when I know I'm not.

You make me feel good when I feel so bad.

Never getting' mad,

I'm so glad I have you.

Love bein' around you.

You make it easy,

As easy as one, two, one, two three, four.

There's only one thing, two do, three words, four you.

I LOVE APPLES!

There's only one way, two say, those three words,

And that's what I'll do.

I LOVE YOU!

Zero strummed away as the crowd bobbed their head to the song. In the middle of the second verse, zero told the crowd that the apples in the cart were all for sale; One for a silver crown, two for silver and a bit, and four for a gold piece. The crowd slowly moved towards the carts and began to buy the delicious fruit. Mr. Note came running out of his store and placed a guitar case on the ground to keep the money in. Zero played song after song until fingers felt like they would fall off. The pony crown clapped and dispersed as AJ ran up and through her front hoofs around his neck.

"That was amazing, Zero! We sold both carts Look at all the money we got!"

'That's great, Applejack! But I'd like to give 30% to the Notes for helping me find a piece of me today, and since I am using their guitar."

"Fine with me!"

They counted the money and split the necessary amount up and gave it to the Notes. Zero handed the guitar to Mrs. Note, but she pushed it back to him.

"Keep it. You look so happy when you play."

"Thank you! Thank you very much, Mrs. Note!"

Zero and AJ waved to the Notes as they made their way to train station. They bought the tickets for the last express train for Ponyville and place their carts in the back when it came. On the way home, zero strummed away again as he softly sang to the passengers. AJ yawned and felt her eye lids grow have to the soft sound on the music. She yawned again and promised herself she would close her eyes for a second.

Zero played until he felt AJ head on his shoulder. He stopped and placed it carefully in its case. AJ moved closer to Zero and sighed a bit in her sleep. Zero smiled and looked at the sleepy pony. When they reached their stop, Zero scooped up AJ in one arm and grabbed his guitar in the other. He found a unicorn who, upon asking, agreed to lift AJ's cart onto Zero's cart. Zero placed his guitar and hooked himself up with disturbing AJ to mush. She stirred in her sleep and wrapped her hoofs around Zeros arm. He made his way through the light filled town to AJ's farm. He unhooked and knocked on the door softly.

Big Mac opened the door and saw Zero holding a finger to his lips. Big Mac nodded and led Zero to AJ's room. Zero took of AJ"s hat and placed in on the hat rack in the corner of her room. He placed her on her bed and pulled the covers over her. She sighed and stirred a bit but didn't fully wake up.

Zero exited the room and descended the stairs, telling Big Mac everything that happened. He waved good night to him and took one last look at AJ's window. He smiled and grabbed his guitar from the cart and headed out for Twilight's castle, where a hot shower and a cool bed waited for him.

 _ **Hey, guys! I have an announcement for y'all! This will be my last chapter for 2 years!**_

 _ **Yeah!**_

 _ **You heard right!**_

 _ **2 YEARS!**_

 _ **I'm going on my mission for my church and will be unable to continue writing in that time period.**_

 _ **But I will return! Don't' you worry none!**_

 _ **Remember; comments are appreciated and will help my story grow! Write a review or message me and I will get back to them in 2 years time!**_

 _ **Happy reading!**_


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